A lone Digi Destined
by Demino
Summary: AU: Tai never went to the digital world with the group from 01, now three years later, he's no longer friends with Sora, his family bond with his sister is falling apart, and just as it can't get worse, he's called into the digital world to fight a growin
1. Part I

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Summery: AU, Taichi, despite having a somewhat nice life, finds that he and his sister a drifting apart, his digimon partner had returned in another form, and he keeps getting this pain in his chest and dreams of darkness. Will he be lost in it forever, or will his friends come through and save him before it's too late.

Special Notes: 

Tai:  13 years old.

Jun:  13 years old.

Mimi: 13 years old.

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    A lone Digi Destined

         Part I

A small adventure for starters

================================

The sand, it was everywhere around him, he could hear his friends screams as they were tossed around as rag dolls, and above it all came that dark and cold laughter as another blow hammered into them. Struggling to get up, he could see his digimon barely holding on to his current level and fighting power. "Metalgreymon, do it now!!"

"JewelBeemon help them."

"Cyberdramon, quick hit him from the left."

He didn't know if his digimon had heard him or if he had just acted on some impulse, but still it was more then enough to lift his spirits as the claws tore through the back of the floating Virus digimon, the scream that came from it's mouth as it tumble over and blew up in a cloud of digital information that flew away in the harsh desert wind, and then there was only silence as his own injuries showed just how badly he had been hurt in the battle, the pain spreading through his chest as he saw the youngest one of them, Ken push the oldest kid Ryo out of the way just to get hit by a small black thing in his neck, a thing that had been heading straight towards the older boy.

The look on Ryo's face as both of them tumbled to the ground scared him, he didn't know what it was he saw, but from the looks of it, it wasn't good, it wasn't good at all.

"Gennai!! Someone get some help quick, Ken... Tai... What's wrong with you! Wormmon, Cyberdramon, what happened to the digimon? Did we beat him? Hey, where's Agumon?"

Sitting up in his bed, the 13-year-old child held a hand up to his forehead as he felt his heart pound away as if it was going to burn out any minute. Then it was all over and he fell back down in his bed, the sweat soaked pillow and the mop of hair on his head taking the worst of the impact it would have been if they hadn't been there. "Just a dream, it was just a dream. Everything is still okay." Smiling as he closed his eyes. "It was just a dream." 

On the table inside the room, his computer turned on by itself and a series of numbers and letters flashed across the screen in a flurry of lines, then they twisted to form a horrible and dark face, the red eyes turning to stare at the boy sleeping in the bed. "Yagami... Yagami... Taichi Yagami..."

His eyes opening, Tai turned his head and stared down at the computer, confusion clear on his face as he saw the form of an e-mail blinking on the screen. "Wha... Kari, this had better not be one of your jokes." Crawling out of the bed, he nearly stumbled as he missed one of the steps. Ignoring the sleeping form of his sister on the bed, he walked over and stared more closely at the computer screen. "What, it's for me, but who would send me a e-mail at." Staring quickly at the clock down in the corner of the computer, Tai blinked when it made no sense to him. "Great, now the computer's getting weird on me." Returning his stare to the computer, Tai blinked when he noticed just what it said.

To: King-of-all-soccer-matches

From: Digimon-master.

Subject: Your digimon partner.

Taichi Yagami.

Greetings Taichi Yagami, I am called the digimon Master, I'm sending you this E-mail to tell you that your partner digimon has been reborn and is waiting for you at the primary village, the place were all digimon's go to be reborn. But a great danger is headed towards Pirmary village, and your help in protecting your digimon and the village will be needed.

If you trust what I'm telling you, download the program that is attached it's the latest in Digital gate programs and will allow you to enter the digital world of your own free will. The only thing you will need is your digivice.

And before you ask, your digivice is under your bed hidden in the upper left corner.

Trust me.

Your Friend, 

The Digimon Master.

Staring a the E-mail, Tai closed his eyes and tried to banish the memory of the small Koromon he had met all those years ago in the digital world, it was doing his sisters own adventure in the digital world that he, Ken and another boy he hadn't know a the time had been called in to stop a dangerous digimon called Milleniummon, his sister hadn't believed him, and since he couldn't find his digivice, he hadn't been able to prove it.

Reaching down towards the bed, Tai stuck his arm in and frowned when he hit one of Miko's old chew toys and a single spider web, finally his hand brushed into the flat square form of his digivice. As he slowly pulled it out from under it, he wondered how he could have missed seeing it for so long. Then he was staring at the small white device in his hand and the black screen with the small crack running through it from the last battle, and the last time he had seen. A single tear moved down his left cheek as he tunred and held out the digivice to the screen in front of him. "Agumon was still alive, but how, Milleniummon had deleted his partner, but still, if Agumon was still out there, he would help his friend no matter what."

Downloading the program, Tai stared at the screen as it installed and opened the program, a red-brown box forming with a small image of a villageina  small wind field on the left side of the box, on the right were a red and green field, the green one lit with the word "Open" flashing below both bars. Remembering that he should hold up his digivice to the screen, he grabbed his goggles and snapped them around his head in one move. "I'm coming Agumon." Everything dissolved into a bright white light at those words as his digivice opened the gate for him.

As the light died down, Kari sat up in her bed and stared around the room, her eyes heavy with sleep, and a strange stuffed toy cat in her arms. "Tai. That you?" Turning her head, she stared at the black screen of the computer and shrugged, he must have stepped out to get something to drink or use the bathroom as usual, sleep claimed her again as she dreamed of meeting her partner Gatomon again someday, a stuffed version of her just wasn't the same thing.

***************

Landing, Tai decided silently inside his, was something that this Digimon Master really needed to improve on if he expected him to use that gate more often, the fact that he had to land in the middle of a grass field with nothing but an endless field of small cribs and digieggs to stare at, didn't really improve on his mood. In fact, it did a great deal to darken it as he was still tired, cranky from getting dropped face first into the ground and on top of it all, he was only dressed in his boxers. 

Standing up from the ground with a scowl on his face, he noticed that for someone wearing only boxers, he wasn't feeling that much of a cold draft anywhere. Looking down, he blinked at the sight of the strangest outfit he had ever seen on him, while it look a little strange to him it felt a lot better then running around almost naked. Staring a the brown cargo pants and the sleeveless blue turtle neck he was now dressed instead of his boxers, he scratched his head as confusion really settled in. "This didn't happen the last time I was here."   

Ignoring the clothes question as it was getting to be too much for him to handle at the moment, Tai settled for finding out where he was at the moment. If he remembered right, the endless field of digi cribs and eggs could only mean that he was back in primary village, but why had he ended up here, shouldn't he have gone to where Agumon were in this world? 

Lifting up his digivice, he turned slowly around and stared at the screen with a confused look o his face, his digimon was somewhere here, that much he could be sure, he would have been dropped off somewhere near him. But, where was he then, staring at the number of Cribs and the curious small digimon babies staring at him with wide eyes Tai could feel his determination weaver in the face of the rather giant task it would be to find a single digimon among them. Smiling down at a small black onion shape digimon with green leaves on the head right before him, he grinned when he saw it smile back at him. "You wouldn't happen to have seen my digimon partner around here would you, he's either a Botamon or an Koromon unless he has digivolved into his rookie form already."

Looking up at him, it blinked the large eyes and blew out a few bubbles, ruffling the brown mop of hair on Tai's head. "I'm sorry, I've just hatched a day ago, so I don't know that many digimon's here." Blowing out some more bubbles to ruffle Tai hair, it began to pounce up and down in the small crib. "Try Elecmon, he knows every digimon born in Primary Village."

Smiling at the hyperactive small digimon as blew some bubble at him, he pocketed his digivice and looked around the village, trying to figure out where this Elecmon could be. Turning back to look a the small digimon as it stopped hopping, he smiled at it as he settled down to nuzzle it. "Thank you, can you tell me where Elecmon is."

Jumpinging up and pointing one of it's green leave to the west, it began to giggle in happiness. "He went that way, towards the river to fish." Landing in the crib, it smiled up at Tai and followed him with its eyes as the brown haired boy turned to face the direction he had just been pointed towards.

Staring at the edge of the village and towards the forest, Tai nodded as he stood up and ran a hand trough his hair, smoothing out the damage done to it by the bubbles and returning it to it's normal spiky style. "That way huh." Clenching his hands and nodding to himself, Tai turned and gave a quick farewell smile to the small digimon. "Thank you." Then he began to run towards the forest.

Sitting in a shadow high above the village on one of the stable boxes towers, a small bowling ball shaped digimon eyes followed the sight of the human boy as he ran away from the digimon in the crip, his brown hair waving in the air as he started to pick up speed in his run towards the forest. Closing his eyes, the small digimon sitting on the tower of cubes smiled. "So, that's the one I should attack, well, it shouldn't take too long, and who knows, I might even get some fun out of it." Diving down from the tower, it pulled out a small dart from no where and aimed it at a crip nearby the boy. "This should get his attention, Demi Dart!"

The sudden sound of a digimon baby screaming out in terror and pain nearby caused Tai to stop his run and spin around to stare up a the digimon hovering in the air and laughing as a cloud of digital data floated up into the sky around it. The shape of the digimon was ball shaped and a pair of torn up leather wings poked out of the side of it and small two toed legs handhing , a small mask drawn down over the top of the head, turning around in the air to face him, a pair of yellow eyes locked onto Tai from under the leather mask it more, then it mouth carcked into a smile as flew closer to him. "Well, well. I haven't seen someone like you around here before." 

Glaring at the flying bowling ball of a digimon with a dark look on his face, Tai clenched his digivice tightly in his pocket as his eye narrowed in anger over what he had just be a witness too. "How dare you... That was just a baby... It couldn't even defend itself against you!" Anger clear in his voice as he spoke, Tai pointed a finger a tthe flying Digimon.

Flapping it's wings and flying a bit higher up, the digimon stared down a the human boy before him with a curios look on his face, as his eyes an face took on a more smug expression as he was now was well out of the boys range. "Well, I just didn't like the way he looked, just as I don't like the way you look." Turning around, the small digimon lifted up it's left leg, letting the small dark held between the claws of it foot glint in the sunlight. "Demi Dart!"

"Bubble Blow!"

Yelping out in surprise as the bubbles pelted into his face and blinding him momentarily, Demidevimon let lose the Demi dart attack in shick and struck the empty crib under him instead. Flapping his wings and fighting to regain his balance, the yellow eyes of the digimon snapped open and looked around the place with narrowed eyes. "How dare you, I'll skin ya for that you little twerp."

Jumping past a few cribs, a small white form landed protectively in front of Tai, the eyes of the Fresh level digimon glaring up a the Rookie level virus digimon hovering above them. "Taichi, you no hurt Taichi. Bubble Blow!" Another series of bubble shot out of its mouth and hit the surprised Demidevimon right out, but did nothing to him except anger him.

Behind the digimon, Tai stared down at the small white digimon as it ducked to avoid a demi dart aimed right for the center of it's body, sending out another spray of bubble to pelt the stronger Rookie above it. There was something so familiar about it, something in the way it talked; even if was just a Fresh digimon. "Agumon?"

Ducking another demidark, the white digimon began to bounce towards Tai, the eyes staring up at him with a pleading look as it moved towards him, the black eyes twinkling with happiness and worry over seeing him again. "Tai, Taichi, come back, me glad." Landing before him, the white body turned around to face the dive-bombing DemiDevimon. "Bubble Blow!" 

Flying right through the bubbles, the evil digimon pulled up and sent the demi dart towards the ground, right towards the white digimon standing protectively before Tai, sending out a spray of bubble that all popped as soon as they hit the dart. "No don't, Agumon!" Reaching out with his arm, Tai heard a sudden high pitched whine coming from the pocket where he had dropped his digivice, Turning to look a the digimon again, he blinked as it spun around and glowed a bright white.

"SnowBotamon digivolve too... Nyaromon" Breaking out of the white ball of light, the white digimon had been replaced with a yellow ball with small cat ears and a shot tail with purple markings on it, Looking up a the Demi Dart with narrowed eyes, the new digimon pulled in a breath of air and then blew it out. "Bubble Blow!" Each bubble shooting out and popping as it hit the dart.

Laughing from the air, Demidevimon stared down at the new digimon and closed his eyes. "Ha, haven't you learned that your stupid bubble can't stop my darts." Then his eyes snapped opened when he didn't hear the sound of the digimon screaming out in pain as his dart deleted it forever, then his eyes looked from the smug boy to the digimon before him, and then finally to the Dart sticking out of the ground. "Wha, how?"

Staring up at the puzzled Rookie digimon, Nyaromon stuck out his tongue at the bowling ball shaped digimon as he jumped forward to get a bit closer to him. "My bubbles are stronger now, and nothing can stop me from protecting Tai." Glaring up at the shocked digimon hovering above him, he drew in some more air and sent it out towards Demidevimon as hard as he could. "Bubble Blow."

Still shocked, Demidevimon was completely unprepared when the bubble hit him, and began to push him backwards in the air, sending him spiraling down towards the did crib filled ground, pulling up as hard as he could, he only graced one of the cribs and then wobbling a bit he moved up in the air and turned to stare down at the two who had dared to hurt him. "Why you!" Only to see a shadow jump up at him.

Staring at the bowling ball shaped bat like digimon as it fell downwards to a few meters over the ground, the wings beating hard to try and break the fall, he smiled and bounced forward in a sudden speed attack, his small yellow and red tail whipping up and down with each hop he made. Getting with in a meters distance of the still un recovered digimon, he jumped up when it finally pulled out the fall a meter over the ground, and enjoyed the wide eyes staring at him when it finally spotted him. "Tail Whip." Falling down on the other side of Demidevimon, he smirked when he saw the red mark across the black face, it length and thickness a precise match for his tail.

Hovering in the air, the digimon finally turned and stared down at the digimon, his red eyes almost glowing with anger as he flapped out of Nyaromon's reach again. "You'll regret that fuzz ball." Looking at the number of scared digibabies around him, he smiled and swooped over to hand above the first set of cribs. "Evil Whisper!" A series of rings shot out from his eyes and mouth, and washed over the cribs, turning all the eyes of the digimons blood red, turning around from the digibabies, he repeated the attack on the other cribs around them, getting several dozen more of the digibabies under his control. "Let's see you handle this one fuzz ball, Attack her!"

Tai reacted on an inner impulse as he began to race forward, every single bit of him wanting to help the digimon before it was overpowered and killed by the other digimons. Grabbing the crib belonging to the digimon that had been deleted when he passed it earlier, he looked up and took a careful aim for the bowling ball shaped body, and tossed the small wooden thing through the air as hard as he could. 

On the ground, Nyaromon yelped as he was suddenly pelted with bubbles from several directions at once, each of them leaving a smarting feeling behind as they impacted him, opening one eye, he spotted Demidevimon as the virus digimon turned to face Tai, a demidart glinting in the sun as the digimon hurled it at the boy just as he let go of his own weapon. "Taichi, look out!"

Everything slowed down as Nyaromon rushed forward, ignoring the bubbles still hitting her, her full intent on protecting that, then the dart hit the human boy in the chest, sending him forward with his right hand circled around the dark head of the dart, at the same time, she noted the crib smacking right into the rookie digimon, sending him down at last, or at least for the moment.

Jumping over to look at the human boy, Nyaromon stared up at the sweat covered forehead and the small glass like look in the brown eyes was starting to take on, between the fingers, he held the dart that had hit him, the tip covered with his blood, and a small green drop of some kind of thick and foul smelling liquid running down it. "Poison." His eyes growing, he turned and stared up at the boy's face, the life in his eyes becoming more and more lost for every second. "No Taichi, you can't die, we just met again, I was going to tell you what had happed while you were gone."

Hopping back up to his feet, Demidevimon looked at the sobbing digimon and heavily panting human boy through his only good eyes, the other was closed and had a bright red mark from the crib across it. "Well, serve him right." Looking at the yellow fuzzy head of Nyaromon as it turned around, he smirked at the look of anger in those red eyes of his.

Staring at the virus digimon, Nyaromon had to use every drop of control he had to stop himself from going on a wild rampage and attacking the smirking digimon, instead, he could just stand there and look at him, feeling how his human partners life was fading away. "Damn you, damn you Demidevimon." giving up on his control, the small fuzz ball rushed forward in a mad attempt to get revenge. "Dieeeee!!"

Knocking him aside with his wing, Demidevimon stared at the form of Nyaromon as he smacked into the side of a cube tower, the sound of his yelp of pain the sweetest music to the virus at the moment. "Shut up you little fuzz ball." Turning to get a better view of him, he smiled as he opened his mouth to send another insult out at the other digimon.

"Super Thunder Strike!!" 

Turning around and falling on his back as he lost his balance, the last thing Demidevimon saw was a jagged bolt of pure electricity headed straight towards him, then it hammered into him, sending a wave of pure pain through his body. "Noooooooooooo..." Then he exploded into a cloud of digital data that floated up into the sky before it faded away.

Turning his eyes up from the ground, Nyaromon looked right into the eyes of Elecmon as he stared down at him, the eyes showing a little amount of her confuse meant and a lot of anger over the battle that had just taken place in the village that the guardian digimon was supposed to protect from intruders. "I should have guessed it would be you fighting, well, looks like you managed to get up to your in-training stage."

Looking away from the gentle Elecmon that used to take care of her and all the other digi babies, he screamed out in fear when he spotted his partner lying on the ground, his fingers loosely circled around the digivice and the brown eyes seeing nothing at all, the only sign he was still alive was the ragged breath that came from him. "Tai!" Looking at Elecmon, he jumped up into his face and stared directly into his eyes. "Help him, you got to be able to do something."

Staring at the human, Elecmon shook his head as he noted just how far away the boy already was, what ever had happened to him, it was well on its way to killing him. "I'm sorry, I can't do anything, I don't know what's wrong with him, but he wouldn't last long enough for me to find any help."

Staring at his partner, Nyaromon shook his head and then jumped over to land near the boy, his eyes looking into the glazed over eyes of his partner, the spark in them lost for the moment as all his energy went to fight back the poison. "I don't care what it takes, I would give my life for him to become better." Pressing his fuzzy face and body up to him, he wrapped his tail up over the brown haired head in a sign of comfort. "Please pull through this one Tai, for me, please."

Looking at them, Elecmon closed his eyes as he tried to remember someone that might be able to help them, the only digimons nearby was Meramon and Orgemon and both was in a rather dark mood lately so they was out of the question, that left only two others that might be able to help them, Andromon or Sorcerimon for now, most likely Sorcerimon as Andromon couldn't do any magic. Looking back at the digimon and human, he closed is eyes and gave up on fighting his code. "Nyaromon, look after the village, I'll try and find Sorcerimon, he might be able to help. Until then, try to keep him awake, you mustn't let him fall asleep okay" 

Looking up at Elecmon, Nyaromon nodded and turned back to stare at Tai. "I will, but Elecmon, try to hurry, I don't think he will be able to hold on for long."

*****************

Curled up inside of himself, Tai tried to force the scene before him out of his mind, ignoring the words coming from the persons before him as they dance around him in the ever shifting corridors and rooms of the dark place, the sudden black floor becoming white under him as the air was filled with the smell of different medications. Not even looking down at himself, Tai could already see that he was back to being just an eight year old kid. 

"Tai, how could you!"

The words stung him, but not as much as the hand that smacked him across the face as the woman stopped before him, the face red and full of anger and tears as she looked down at him, the hand still held up in the air from the slap to his cheek. 

"How could, you could have killed her Tai." 

The words stabbed him as he saw the image of his younger sister, lying on the ground, the fever burning her up. The worry and knowledge that he might have killed her, just because he wanted to play soccer was still a great pain to him. "I didn't mean to, I..."

"You can't help her!"

Turning at the sudden voice from behind him, he blinked when he noticed the small white cat staring at him, the front paws covered by a set of yellow gloves, her blue eyes burrowing into him as her tails moved back and fourth as she continued to just stare at him. 

"You would just be in the way, this is only for those who have a digimon partner."

Stepping back at those words, Tai reached down for his digivice, finding nothing but air where it was usually placed before he lost it, heck it should still be there, he found it just a few minutes ago. And he did have a digimon, an Agumon.  

"No you don't, he died in the desert."

Turning to face another person, he blinked when all he saw was a boy his own age, a tall and dangerous looking humanoid dragon digimon standing behind him, it arms crossed over it s chest, just as the boys arms where. "What, who..." Then the face clicked into place and he remembered the name of the boy. "Ryo..." And the digimon behind him, its name flashed through his mind as well. "Cyberdramon."

"You killed him, you killed Agumon when you ordered him to attack a far more powerful digimon."

Shaking his head, Tai covered both his ears and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the painful voice and their accusations towards him, each of the thinsg they said to him, hurting more then the slap he had gotten from his mom back in the hospital, more then when he had been hit with the dart. "Shut up, I didn't kill him, he was my best friend." 

"But you did, and you also nearly got Kari killed." 

Looking up as the voice almost boomed around in the darkness him, even through his hands was still clapped down over his ears, he could still hear as plainly as if the person had been yelling. Looking up from the ground, he stared at the red haired girl with the blue helmet on her head, her eyes sad and full of tears as she stared at him. "Sora?"

"Tai, how could you, everyone around you gets hurt, your digimon, your sister, what if the next one is me?"

Reaching out a hand from here he sat, Tai tried to fight his way back up to his knees. "No, I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise." Sora's head dropped down as a few tears ran down her cheeks.

"It's not others that I fear, it's you. Don't you see, everyone you are near winds up hurt? I can't be near someone who brings pain and hurt to others."

Slowly, Sora turned around and began to walk away as she was joined by a ghostly image of his sister, looking like she had died all those years ago, and the his partner joined him, his body just a transparent as Kari's, and then his mother and father was walking away from him as well, and no matter what he did, he couldn't get up, he couldn't run after them. "It's not my fault, I didn't mean it!!"

"You hurt everyone around you Tai, so we're leaving before you hurt us."

Dropping both hands down on the ground beneath him, he screamed out all of his fear, his angst and the feeling of loneliness as each image faded away, leaving him alone in the darkness, completely alone with no one or anything around him. "I didn't mean it!!!!"  

The ocean breeze with it salty smell hit him suddenly as the ground beneath him turned into a wet layer of sand that allowed him to sink a bit down. Opening his eyes, he was treated to the sight of an endless surface of a murky black ocean, the sky dark gray and full of black clouds rushing across the sky. "What? Where am I?" Looking around, Tai began to struggle to get up, finding that he still trapped in a kneeling position, his face turned towards the ocean and the sudden waves as they began to move in closer towards him, each one of them splashing him with freezing water. "No, stop it, let me go." The next wave rose up high above him, then it crashed down towards him, pushing him down under a deep and dark world of cold water, pressing in on him, drowning him.

"Tai!…"

"Tai!!..."

"TAI!!!..."

***************

Sitting straight up in the bed, sending the small digimon sitting on his chest flying along with the blanket, Tai let out a scream of pain and terror as he could still feel the dream burrowing into his mind and soul, then his mouth closed around a silent scream as he no longer had the air to yell out. Dropping back down on the bad as the pain from his chest becaome stronge, Tai finally opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. "Where am I?" 

"At my house."

Turning his head, Tai stared at the digimon standing in the doorway, a huge white wizard's hat on his head, matiching the white clothes he was wearing, behind the digimon stood a smaller one, this one was walking on all fours and were covered in yellow fur, his eyes staring at him and then nodding in agreement to whatever it was they had just discussed. "Well, if you don't need me anymore Sorcerimon, I'll be getting back to Primery village." Turning around as the gloved hand waved him off, Elecmon rushed out the door.

Walking over to place a gloved hand on the brown haired boy's forehead, Sorcerimon nodded and looked down as an yellow blur jumped back up on the boys chest to stay near her partner. "Well, his fever has gone down, and the poison is nearly gone from his system." Standing up and turning around, the wizard type digimon walked over to lift up a cup from the table. "Just a bit more of this potion and he should be completely cured, but he'll still need to relax and take it easy, the poison did a bit of damage to his system that will take some time to heal." 

Helping Tai up in a sitting position, he held the cup up to the lips of the boy and began to pour the first few drops of the concoction into his mouth, watching as the boy's eyes narrowed and showed just how bad the medicine taste, he couldn't help but crack a smile at the comical expression. Then he pulled the cup away and allowed to boy cough all he wanted. "Try to get some more rest, and you too Nyaromon."

Not waiting for an answer, Sorcerimon had already turned around and left the room, his boots making a soft thumping sound on the floor as he walked across the wooden planks, the cup placed back on the table as he passed by it. "I'll look in on you two in a an hour, until then I want the both of you to get some sleep." 

The small red eyes Of Nyaromon glowed with concern for the boy as he looked up at the human boy, his tail twitching back and fourth as he moved closer to the brown haired head and began to nuzzle his chin against it. "Taichi, I thought you were gone, don't you ever scare me like that again you hear." Watching and feeling how the boy's chest moved under her, she closed her own eyes, and began to doze off.

Still having the foul taste from the brew in his mouth, Tai flicked his tongue over his dry lips and tried to ignore the small voice at the back of his mind, still screaming that he hurt everyone around him, still it was getting louder the more sleepy he was becoming, and it was getting harder to ignore it as well. "No, I didn't mean... I didn't know... Please... Don't leave... me..." And then it came back, the dream.

Looking up from where he was lying on the boy's chest, Nyaromon looked on the boy as he frowned and mumbled something in his sleep, his eyes moving from side to side under his eyelids. "A nightmare." Pressing up against the boy, he rubbed his chin against Tai's, trying to comfort the boy as much as he could hoping that his partner would be able to sleep more peacefully from it.

Behind her, the door opened and Sorcerimon returned, carrying a book and a small blanket, turning around, he stared at the yellow cat head with the tail that was Nyaromon and lifted up his hands, a glowing ball of blue light forming, the power from it lulling the In-training digimon to sleep as well. "I'm sorry, but it has to be this way, his presence reveals a great darkness in the future."

***************

"Tai!"

Rolling over on his side and ignoring the loud voice yelling at him, Tai met the fate of falling a short distant as whatever he was lying on just didn't support him anymore. Rubbing the growing bump on his head as he opened his eyes, Tai found himself staring up a wooden surface with a few screws holding firmly in place on the wooden leg. "Wha... Where am I?" Looking around more closely, he notice that he was lying under the table in the living room, the couch still holding his left leg up in the air. {Wha... what am I doing here, where's Nyaromon?} Looking at the ruffled pillows on the couch, he hung his head down. {Just a dream... Just a dream as usual..."

A pair of legs wearing a pink pj stepped into view, followed by a face framed by soft light brown hair. "Kari." The brown eyes staring down at him with a look of laughter in them as she reached down and grabbed his hand, pulling him up from the floor. "What happened?" Asking the question, Tai rubbed the bump on his head as he looked around the room, his parents wasn't up yet, so he might not get yelled at for sleeping on the couch.

Looking at him as she rearranged the couch cushions to look like no one had slept on them, she turned and looked at Tai, her eyes showing just how stupid she thought the question was. Dropping the last pillow down near the armrest, she turned around and began to push her big brother towards the bedroom. "You fell asleep on the couch last night." Seeing a second question forming on his lips, she shook her head and pointed at their room. "Later Tai, right now, we both have to get ready for school." Rushing into the bathroom, she slammed the door in his face. 

Sighing at the prospect of spending a fine warm day such as they one they were having right now, inside a stuffy room listing to the constant babble of teachers and other students didn't really fit in with what he wanted to do, he would much rather be outside in a green field doing a few soccer tricks. Stopping as he stepped in and grabbed his shirt, he began to pull the top of his off when a sudden sharp sting ran through his chest at the movement. Pulling the garment completely off, he dropped it on the floor and stared at the small red welt near is heart, right there were. "Demidevimon, but that was a dream right?"

"Tai, why are you yelling, are you okay?"

The knocking and voice coming from the door forced the brown haired boy to ignore the matter for now and instead focus on finding the clothes he needed for the day. Besides, there was no way he going to let his mum see that, she wouldn't let him leave the apartment if she did, and that was the one thing worse then being stuck in school on a day like this, stuck inside the apartment. no, it was better to hide and try ad make some sense of it later. "It's okay mum, I just stepped on something that's all."

Turning away from the closet and pulling out his trusted old blue shirt with the yellow star on the chest, he reached down for his brown shorts when a soft bump on the floor made him look away from what he was doing. "What the." Reaching down and picking up the small, square device, Tai stared at the cracked screen with a puzzle look. "My digivice, but... Okay. What's going here?"

The sound of the door opening brought him out of his thoughts and face to face with his sister as she poked her head around the door, her eyes staring at him standing there with the pants from his PJ and a blue shirt on. "Haven't you gotten further then that, we only have one hour before school starts you know." Opening the door, she walked in and opened the door to her side of the closet. "Well, you better hurry if you want to have a shower before leaving."

Looking down at the device in his hands as his spoke to him, Tai nodded and stuffed it into the pocket off his shorts. Passing his sister, he stopped and looked at her. "Kari, can we talk later, it's kinda important." 

Looking over her shoulder, his little sister stared harder at him, her eyes a bit wider from her surprise over hearing that. "You want to talk with me, are you sick, we haven't really talked since that summer 3 years ago." Fully turned around, Kari was giving a concerned stare at him.

Eyes flashing a bit at the comment, Tai turned around and opened the door, stepping out into the corridor in a hurry, a small amount of anger clearly showing in the way he moved. "So what, you were the one who suddenly didn't have that much time to talk anymore, remember." Closing the door, he ignored the shocked and hurt look on his sister face as he walked down towards the bathroom. "Mum, I'm taking a shower."

Hearing her son talking to her, Mrs. Yagami poked her head around the kitchen doorway, looking at Tai with as she pulled a small spoon out from her, and held it one hand as she gave him a parental stare. "You look tense Tai, are you sure our okay?" Walking completely out of the kitchen and up to her son, she grabbed his shoulder and pushed her hand towards his forehead. "Well, you don't feel hot, and your face isn't flushed." Stepping back and waving the spoon in a mock treating way, she looked at the brown haired boy with a big smile. "Okay, you're off the hook Tai, go take your shower, and when you come out, I'll give an extra big helping of the new health breakfast I've made."

Staring at his mother with a sudden sick look on his face, Tai turned around to enter the bathroom, suddenly getting the desire to spend more then half the morning in the bath, it would be worth it, just to avoid another new health recipe from his mother. Pulling off his clothes, he stopped and stared down at the red welt, running a finger over it as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. "Could, it have been real after all." Looking down at his brown short lying on the hamper, he could clearly make out the shape of the small device hidden in the back pocket. "Nyaromon, Agumon, could she be him, but how." 

***************

Looking up from his place on the table, Nyaromon stared at the Sorcerimon talking in a hushed pace with a man, both of them were looking at him and then talking some more when they stopped looking, and to be honest, it as starting to get on his nerves to hear someone talk about him as if he wasn't even there, and just why did they have to cross all the way from File Island to Server, was it just so they could talk to this man. 

Stepping away from the man, Sorcerimon shook his head and lifted up his staff to inspect it, shooting a quick and concerned look at Nyaromon as he walked past the table to get out of the house. Stopping in the doorway, he looked back at the man and sighed. "Be careful Gennai, that this boy could return to the digital world like that could mean a lot of trouble for all of us if he's the one." Pushing opened the door into the room at the words, Sorcerimon stopped to hear if the man would leave a last comment or answer to his unspoken question.

Turning completely around, Gennai nodded and walked over to stare down at the small digimon on the table, petting her on the head as he walked past him, his eyes showing the concern in his heart and mind. "I know, things are still out of balance, the Digital Gods still are still trapped, and there are rumors of another human wandering the digital world." His guest twitched at the sounds and clenched his staff a bit harder then he really needed too.

Pushing the button to part the waters of the lake outside the house, Sorcerimon eyes took on a distant and far away look as he walked out into the garden and over to the stairs. "We must prepare then, something is coming, and it's not going to be pretty." Walking up the stairs, he turned his head around the lush green field above the lake and found that no one had seen him come up. "I must find Leomon and the others, we can't let something like this happened without being prepared." 

Turning to the west and walking towards the forest leading in the direction towards File Island and his home, he kept going over the words from their conversation in his head, One human could be a fluke in the system, but two, that is if the rumors were true at all, could they be here to fight off some great evil again, another monster like Devimon, or the Dark Masters. "No! I won't let something like that happen again, I..." Stopping his talk, the wizard type digimon looked up and stared long and hard at the black colored spire rising a great deal above the trees around it. "What is that thing."

"A control Spire, me dear servant."

Turning around at the cold and evil voice, Sorcerimon lifted his staff to protect himself if the stranger wanted to fight, and stopped at hwat he came face to face with the open mouth of a Blacktyrannomon, and standing on the back of this huge digimon was. "A human." Nearly dropping his staff, Sorcerimon stared at the strangely dressed boy, a split blue cape with gold trimmings and a tight blue body suit with gold and white stripes on it, a pair of dark glasses covered his eyes and his hair was a mess of spikes. "Are you the one who planted that black thing here?" 

Snorting at the sound, the boy lifted up a whip and cracked it trough the air, knocking the white hat off of Sorcerimons's head with an ease from weeks of practice, a cold sneer on his face as the whip moved back to dangle in the air next to him. "A servant shouldn't talk back to his Kaizer." The whip cracked out again, drawing a yelp of pain from Sorcerimon as it hit him on the shoulder.

Dropping back and reaching down for his hat, Sorcerimon's eyes flashed with fury at the way this human had dared to attack him, it was true after all, whenever humans showed up, things were going to get ugly and really bad, and now it wasn't just a evil digimon that was a treat, now it looked like a human was going to start causing a lot of problems as well. "If you think I'll let you continue this madness then..."

Eye going into slits behind the glasses, the boy lifted up his whip and cracked it down on the ground in a violent way; his other hand lifting up a dark and strangely shaped device, an aura of darkness streaming out from it. "Oh, but you won't do anything, except help me gain control of more of the digital world." Around the boy a cloud of spinning dark rings swooped out of the air and began to fly in several directions at the same time, one of them rushing down towards the white clad wizard type digimon, hitting his right arm and shrinking until it was a perfect fit around it. "I'm the Digimon Kaizer, and all you are, is my humble servant, understood?"

Looking up at the human, his eyes glowing red as he looked up at the boy, then he bowed down on one knee and lowered his head, the white hat and his staff dropped on the ground and forgotten, just like his free will had been forgotten, his whole being now focused on just one thing, and one thing only. "Yes, master." 

Laughing coldly, the digimon Kaizer stared around the place as more and more dark ringed digimon began to step out of the forest, each of their eyes glowing red and showing that they were completely under his control. Lowering his dark digivice, he stared out over the new sector he had just added to the total of his empire. Then he frowned and looked down at the digimon's. "My control Towers covers more the ten sectors now, but it still to slow, I need a more mobile way of planting Control towers, at this rate it will take me a decade to gain control over the digital world." Staring up at a few bird type digimons, his face cracked into a grin. "yes, that how it should be done, I need a flying fortress to hold both my servants and my wonderful control spires, it will increase the effectiveness of my Control spire planting with more then a 100%."

***************

Tai stared out the window of the school and nodded his head, he had been right about this day from the start, it was a crime against life that he had to spend it indoors like this, and then they had to start the day with a math class of all things. Nothing, absolute nothing could make this day more rotten, it was simply impossible.  

"Morning Yagami."

Scratch that, something had just popped up to make his day more rotten then it should be, a lot more rotten in fact. Looking up from his desk, Tai stared directly into a face with a huge smile on it, the hair almost as spiky as his own, and standing up in a just a messy style, great, the kid everyone like to call his twin was going to be sitting next to him. "Motomiya, how nice." he was really starting to hate this day.

Jun Motomiya shook her head at the rather cold way the boy had responded, then again, who could blame him, she had only spend half of last year chasing him, begging him for an autograph or a date, all because he was the best soccer player on the school, and he was rather popular with some of the other kids even he didn't like the other kids and showed it when he could. Still, if she was going to spend the year in this class next to that humor bomb, she might as well try to get to know him a bit better, to save both of them for a year long migraine. "Yagami, are you always in such a good mood?" 

Looking up at her from his desk, his left eyebrow rose just a few centimeters up, and his mouth moved into a little smile as he began to tap is pencil on the table. "Why of course I am, it is the first of school, with a perfect summer day outside while I get to spend the time in here listing to some old geezer tell me how to do algebra."

Jun burst out laughing at the very sarcastic sentence and then dropped down in her own chair, the legs scraping against the floor as she pushed it backwards and dropped her school bag on the table. "Seriously Yagami, you look like someone popped your favorite soccer ball, what's a matter, trouble at home."

Tai snorted and returned to doodle on his desk, a picture of a badly drawn demonic algebra teacher taking shape as the pencil moved across the wood in a quick session. "Not that I really want to talk about it, but me and Kari are kinda drifting a part, we don't talk as much as we used to anymore." Finished with the doodle, he want on to add in a rather rude text above the head of it, his eyes twinkling at the sentence he had made for it.

Next to his desk Jun shook her head at the image and began to pull out her books, dropping the thick algebra book on the desk with a snort and half crossed look on her face as she stared at the old book, knowing that she was about to have it replaced with an even more difficult and heavier one. "At least your sister hasn't dropped the jam on your head yet." No matter how much her little brother had begged for her forgiveness for that accident, she still wouldn't forget about it. "Took me a freaking month to stop smelling like strawberries."

Next to her, Tai snorted and finished with his drawing, having decided to add in a last minute extra horn and tentacle to the drawing of his be hated math teacher, with the smallest amount of hope and good luck, he wouldn't have to put up with another year with him and his dark ways of teaching the complicated math forms, the guy was just as exciting as watching mold grow. Then he stared at Jun, his eyes still smoldering a bit over the morning accident. "Lets just say that I wanted to ask her something, but no, she had to talk with her friends instead, that was more important that her own family."

Shaking her head, Jun opened her mouth to reply to that statement with another example of how more twisted and deranged her brother was in comparison to the goggle wearing boy, when the door into their class room opened and a tall, boding figure walked in, his short dark hair hiding a pair of eyes that told them he didn't care what happened in his class, as long as they didn't disrupt the class or forgot to do the homework he gave them.

Tai looked up as he heard the rest of the class quiet down and stared at the new teacher as he began to pull out a bunch of papers, the eyes of the man staring at each student in the room, judging them and evaluation them too see what kind of student they were, finally his eyes reach Tai's, and they began a stare down, a pair of brown eyes saying I-don't-care vs the all foreboding You're-less-then-dirt-boy stare of his teacher, in the end the You're-less-then-dirt-boy stare won and Tai looked down at his desk. Next to him, he could hear Jun giggle and could clearly picture her drooling all over her desk. "It's just a teacher for crying out loud."

Jun glared at him at the words and snapped a finger at him, her whole pose telling him that she was already 100% behind the teacher because he was a cutie in her eyes, and a cutie was always right, no matter what they did. And boy was this one a cutie, it was going to be damn hard to pass math this year if all her teachers looked like that. "Calm Down Motomiya, try and stay calm, he's what, 20 years older then you, but damn is he hot or what."

Tai stared at the girl as she babble on in what she thought was a hush voice, but was clearly heard by the surrounding desk, the girl's sitting behind her and to the right of her nodding to show their agreement with the spiky haired girl, resisting the urge to slap his head from embarrassment, the goggle wearing boy returned to his doodle, now that they a new teacher, it would need a few changes, such as a more demonic and cruel look. 

After a few minutes of silence, broken only by the faint sound of Tai's pencil moving over his desk, the teacher finally cleared his throat and looked around the classroom. "Greetings, My name is Hojo Futabaki, but you will call me either Mr. Futabaki or Sensei, I will be handing out a list of material we will be using in the year at the end of the class, expect a few pop quizzes and a test once a month. Any questions?" Moving up to stand behind the wooden and metal teachers desk, keeping a close eye on every single student as he spoke to the whole class on the things he expected from them. He nodded to himself in satisfaction as not a single student had had a question to ask yet. Finally he put own the piece of chalk as he finish the last bit. "Finally, are there any questions you might have forgotten earlier?" The sudden knocking on the class door had Futabaki looking up in annoyance as he turned to answer it, having a quick and hushed conversation with whoever was outside the door. Then he came back in and stared around at the class again. "Sorry about the interruption class. Now, I want you to welcome a new student who will be joining us for a undetermined period."  

The last few words from the teacher made Tai look up from his desk, somewhat curious as too who would be joining them, with any luck it was a cute girl, or someone else who was as crazy with soccer as himself. The answer came after a few minutes when the door finally opened and a blond haired boy stepped into the class, looking around the place with a friendly look on his face, he smiled and looked at the students with a air of friendliness and a hope for a quick and easy friendship with them, but even from here, Tai could clearly se that he wasn't a sports fan, in other, he was just. "Boring." And as such, not interesting to him at all. 

Jun glared at Tai, as once again he dared to make a downgrading remark about another what could only a first grade hunk. Damn, what was his problem today, so his sister didn't want to talk to him, he should be jumping around in joy, all younger siblings were a pain in the butt, Daisuke most of all. The last bit had just be determined a few seconds ago when she noticed that her little brother had run off with her pencil case. But back to the loud mouthed Daisuke look a like next to her, well he wasn't that much like Daisuke, Tai knew when to stand down and he could also keep his mouth shut when he needed too, but they were still a pain in the butt, both of them. Still, maybe she could bum a pencil from him, just until she could find her brother and get her own back. "Yagami."

Looking to the right at the loud hiss, Tai stared at Jun as she held out a hand at him palm up and nodding towards his pencil case, great, looks like she forgot her own again, well, no matter how much she begged, he wouldn't lend his out, he needed them for his doodling or he would die from boredom. "Forget it Motomiya, try another one."

Reaching out a hand, Jun made a swipe at the pencil case, knocking over the conveniently place math book shielding Tai's non-math related work from the teachers view. "Watch it." Reaching out and grabbing her hand as it began to sneak back with his pencil case, he pulled it forward, earning a wince from her and a glare as he lost his grip on the arm and instead had to hold onto the other end of the pencil case. "Let go Motomiya." 

Glaring back at the brown haired boy, Jun struck out her tongue and pulled extra hard on the pencil case, grinning as it began to move towards her, until another tug from the goggle-wearing boy sent her almost down onto the ground. "Come on Yagami, just one." Sitting up straight again, She saw that the he was holding the pencil case up over his head and out of her reach, which left only. Quickly before Tai could see what she was planning, she began to make swipes for the lone pencil still lying on the desk. 

"I see that you two find your little game more interesting then your new classmate." 

The voice stopped the struggle for the pencil and caused both Tai and Jun to turn around and stare at the teacher, the man in question was towering up over them, his dark shooting a nin caring look towards each of them, a look that still manage to scared them both as he looked them both over, his arms crossed as he resettled for giving them a general glare. "Yagami and Motomiya, correct." At the sudden case of nodding from the two students, he nodded stepped back from between both tables, his eyes never losing the hard look. Uncrossing his arms, he pointed at the class door. "Perhaps an hour of bucket holding will cool you both down."

Tai and Jun groaned as they stood up, not only was it the first day, but it was only the first class of the day, and now they had to spend it standing in the hallway with two buckets full of water in each hand, man their parents were going to kill them for this when they got home. "Yes Sir." responding as one of his eyes browns began to rise, the messy haired boy and girl stood up and followed after the taller man towards the door, getting issued a pair of plastic blue bucket from the janitors room, and told to wait right outside the door until he deemed that they could be allowed back in.

Standing in the hallway, Tai stared at Jun out of the corner of his eyes, a look of pure annoyance clear in them. "You know, this is all your fault Motomiya."  

Glaring right back at him, Jun snorted and returned to stare at the wall across from them, the windows in it showing just how beautiful it was outside. "Stuff it Yagami, if you had just given me a damn pencil we wouldn't be in this mess, so it is in fact, your fault."

Stepping back, Tai shook his head as the words had far too much in common with the words in his dream. Stopping the angry retort, he stopped as the images from his dream flowed back into his mind. "My fault." The words were hesitant and didn't come out with his usual strength.

Looking back at the brown haired boy, Jun nodded and shifted her arm, trying to ease up on the pain in them. "Yes, it all your fault Yagami, glad to hear you agree with me." Shifting er arms again, she glared down at the bucket, another hour of this and she wouldn't be able to lift her arms at all.

Anger and temper flaring up, tai snapped his hand and bucket out, as he turned around to snap at the girl for even saying something like that, what ever he was going to say was lost as his arm impacted something soft that gave a yelp of surprise from it, the sudden stopping motion if his hand sending the bucket of water out of balance, causing a small wave of water to rush out of it. "What the." Turning around to stare at what he had hit, Tai came face to face with a pink haired girl lying on the ground, her uniform and head soaked from the water he had spilled on her by accident. "Damn, uh, you okay." A stupid question, Tai dimly remembered as he reached a hand down to help her up, of course she wasn't okay, she had just smacked on the head with a bucket and drenched in water.

Looking up from the ground, the pink haired girl's eyes took on a more darker glare as she sat up, one hand going for the bump on her forehead, the other pulling out on her soaked shirt, then they snapped up and stared right into Tai's brown orbs, the soft brown of hers causing him to step back a bit. "Look what you did, you moron!"

Stepping back from the angry outburst, Tai stared stupidly as the girl slapped his hand away and got up on her own, her pink hair plastered to her head and shoulders. The light brown eyes shooting lighting bolts at him as she grabbed the still full water bucket from his hand and slammed it down over his head, the action earning a big laugh from Jun as she saw it.

Pulling the bucket off his head, he glared right back into the brown eyes that was still burring into his. Pushing a few strands of brown hair out of his eyes he noted the bucket landing on the floor behind him, and the sound of Jun laughing, Whoever that pink haired girl was, she had really gotten on his wrong side, and he didn't even know her name, feeling the infamous Yagami rage building up inside of him, he dropped the half full bucket on the floor as he stepped towards her. "Look, whoever you are..." 

The girl crossed her arms as she took in the sight of the burning brown eyes looking at her, while the anger would have gotten her to run away any other day, this was the jerk who had just ended up ruining her day. And as such, he was now a target of her own anger, and she was not backing down anytime soon. "Tachikawa, Mimi Tachikawa, and you are?"

Glaring at the girl as she stood there, confidently with her arms crossed and an air of complete arrogance around her, Tai crossed his own arms, slipping into his tried and trusted I-Don't-Care-Who-You-are stance, eyes slightly narrowed as his mouth became a very thin line, his whole body radiating his displeasure at her tone of voice. "Yagami, Taichi Yagami."

Mimi glared at the boy and felt her whole body repulsed by his attitude, clenching her hands, she felt her body shiver as the wet shirt wasn't getting any warmer, looking at him with cold dismissal, she began to turn around, her eyes shooting dark look at him over her shoulder as she began to walk away. "Well Yagami, I hope we don't meet again." A series of curses followed from her as she began to walk towards the girl's locker room.

Kicking the bucket lying nearby him on the floor, Tai stared down at his own wet clothes, then he looked back at the laughing Jun, his annoyance clear and very strong as he began to walk towards the boys locker room. "Yeah, Ha ha ha, tell the teacher that I'm getting some dry clothes." Not waiting for spiky haired girl to reply, he pushed open the door and slipped inside the boy's locker room. 

Pulling open the locker with his name, he stared at the only other set of clothes in side of it, stored there just in case something would happened and the need for a change of clothes was necessary. Pulling off the wet shirt, he dropped it into the locker, a long with his pants and pulled on the brown shorts and held up the blue long sleeved shirt, stopping when he spotted the welt on his chest again, is fingers moving up to touch it. "Nyaromon!" Pulling the shirt on as a he could, Tai reached into his wet pants and pulled out the digivice from it. "Screw this school, I'm going to get some answer from her." 

***************

The school computer room was empty since it was the first day, and computer classes didn't start until the next week, meaning that he had the whole room to himself. Walking over to the nearest computer, he turned the thing on and waited while it booted, his thoughts constantly on the little Nyaromon he had met in the digital world, how it had seemed like it knew him. Finally the screen stopped loading and he was faced with the student's options on the school network.

Logging on to the Internet, he punched in the address for his Mail service, waiting impatiently as the screen showed the icon for downloading the files needed for it to show the pages from his e-mail service. When it stopped, Tai punched in his screen name and codeword and waited for the password to be confirmed. The window showing how much mail he had stored and how much new mail he had gotten since last. 

New:  1

Old: 15

Pushing the inbox symbol, he waited as the mails was displayed on a long list, the new one near the top and the old ones at the bottom of the page, staring at the new one, he narrowed his eyes as he saw just who had sent them to him. It seemed that the mail had been sent to sometime around five in the morning, and the address it came from was a bit puzzling, but the name of the sender told him more then he needed to, seemed the Digital Master had sent him another mail and this time the subject was The Digital World. 

Staring at the mail, his face frowned at the words, Tai lifted up his digivice, and stared at the cracked screen, who ever this Digimon Master was, he knew more then he should, still, it couldn't hurt to read the e-mail. Moving the mouse up to the mail, he clicked on it and watched as the screen changed to show it.  

To: King-of-all-soccer-matches

From: Digimon-master.

Subject: Digital World.

Taichi Yagami.

Congratulations with defeating Demidevimon last night, the digimon Nyaromon that you want to find is currently somewhere on Server, but due to the actions of the Digimon Kaizer, she is being shipped off to a place know only as the Server Island in a short time. The place is very dangerous and an In-training digimon will not survive for long. 

I have arrange for the digital gate to bring you to a place where you will find the means and powers to help your Partner, it is vital that you help her. The future of the Server Islands depends on your actions. If you are anything like the boy I have heard about, then I know you will do this. To enter the Digital World again, just copy and paste the address below into the search bar and it will open up the digital gate for you.

Your friend,

The Digimon Master.

Staring at the computer, Taichi lifted up his digivice and moved the mouse over to the link, pressing it with out waiting. The Nyaromon had protected him from Demidevimon, and if it hadn't been enough, he would find and thank her for the help. Besides, this sounded like a first class adventure to him. 

Closing the mail program to protect it, Tai stared at the computer screen, his goggles hanging around his neck as they always seemed to do lately. Then he reached down and picked them up, moving them into place around his head back. "There's no time like the present." Watching the new search window pop up as he hit the Internet icon again, he pasted in the address and click on the go to button. After a few seconds, the computer screen flashed the gate program up, the green light next to the small window showing the Digital World glowing and telling him that he could enter whenever he wanted too. Holding his digivice up the screen, the gate went through the final part, and a bright white light filled the room, pulling him into the screen. 

**************

The landing really hadn't improve was the first thing through his head as he spat the sand out of his mouth that he had gotten into it when he had made a belly flop right on the wet sand, his mouth opening as he gasped for breath, and getting some of the sand in since he was lying face down at the time, halfway pressed into the wet stuff when he sucked in.

Looking up from where he had landed, Tai stared around the place and instantly recognized it as the place he kept seeing in his dreams lately, the same dark gray sky, the dark waves lapping up on the beach in a constant flow, sending foam and up into the air when one of them cashed a bit to close to the beach.

Pulling himself up to his feet, he stared around the place more closely, seeing nothing but the same endless beach and dark waters no matter where he looked, and behind him a tall cliff rose up and hid everything in that direction from sight. Turning back to face the water, he blinked as something moved up over the waves and stared at him, or at least that what it looked like, then it was gone.

Standing still in the place where he was, Tai breathed in the cold air and felt his right pocket, smiling slightly when he felt the small white and square device was still there, the beeping sound coming from it as he reached down and touched it, telling him that it was still in working order, but if it hadn't brought him back to the digital world, then where was he, and why had he ended up in this nightmarish place?

Frowning as he closed his eyes, Tai mentally went over the last E-mail he had been sent by this digital Master, could he have betrayed him, was the sending of those E-mails just like everyone else, trying to hurt him, just like he always ended up hurting them.

The simple but repetitive sound coming from the sky made him blink and look up towards the dark gray sky with the dark clouds moving slowly across it, seeing nothing at first, but still hearing the sound, he finally managed to spot the small bird flying across the sky as it called out, the only other living thing around. 

Turning around in the air, the bird dived downwards, it's wings tucked in to the side as it made a deep dive, only to open the wings and level out as it just a few meters above the sand and setting a course for the brown haired boy as it did it. 

Passing by him, Tai could clearly see that the bird was just as black as everything else around the place; the only thing breaking the color scheme about it was the yellow bird eye's that was staring at him as it landed on the sand. "I don't suppose you can tell where I am?"

Clicking its beak at him in response the bird flapped it's wings and began to fly up in the air again, it's yellow eyes never looking away from the brown one, then the yellow color in the eyes spread out, flowing down over the body and covering the bird from view as it began to grow, the clicking of it's beak growing louder every second. Then the light died away and left the bird fully visible again.

Looking back towards it as the light show died down, Tai blinked in surprise at the vision that met him, standing on the beach, a humanoid crow wearing a purple chest plate, the arms of the birdman was covered with a combination of purple gloves and arm bracers, around it's waist a gray piece of cloth was held fast with a black belt over a pair of baggy white pants with a purple leg bracer around each of it's shins, fasten to the belt were two sword sheaths each with a wicked looking sword in it. Lifting a three-fingered hand, it tapped one of the fingers on its beak as it stared at the boy, the yellow eyes still staring at him. "Welcome, Yagami." 

Stepping back from the birdman, Tai reached down for his digivice, and stopped when he noticed that his digimon wasn't present at the moment, that he was completely alone with this digimon or tengu. It's eyes borrowing into him with a cold and determined look in them, making him feel faint, and scared. "What do you want?"

Moving it's free hand down to one of the swords, the birdman never looked away from the boy as the eyes began to narrow with amusement over something, slowly pulling the sword out the sheath, it lifted it up and pointed it at Tai. "To see if you really are the one destined to defeat me?" pulling out the other sword rather fast, the birdman folded his wing back and stormed forward. "Prepare yourself boy."

"Puppy howling."

A high and painful noise filled the are and had both of them fall down to the ground from it, well Tai fell down and clamped a hand over his ears, the birdman instead growled and turned to find the source disturbing him, then he looked down at a small puppy standing on the dune across from them, the blue eyes in the small head glaring at him with anger. Turning around to face this new threat, he crossed his swords and stared at the small thing with an annoyed expression. "Who are you, what are you doing here?"

Jumping down from the sand dune and running over to protectively in front of Tai, the little puppy growled as he took in the sight of the much bigger opponent before them. "Tai, I need your help, you got to get me to digivolve, I can't beat this joker unless I digivolve to the next level."

Looking up from his place on the sand, Tai stared from the puppy to the birdman, his eyes slightly confused, then they settled into a rock hard and determined expression as he stood up, and lifted up his cracked digivice. "You're Agumon right?"

Shooting a quick look back at him, the puppy smiled and turned back to face the birdman like digimon again. "Yes, but I'm a Salamon now." Feeling his partner about to ask another question, he shook his head. "Later, right now we got a really bad digimon to stop." Facing the bird digimon, his eyes turned just as hard as his partners, his teeth showing as he began to growl at the Birdman like digimon.

Glaring down at them, the bird Digimon began to laugh at the sight of it, his swords glinting in the air as he began to walk towards them in a slow and arrogant pace. "Boy, Digimon, you two are not match for Karatenmon." Looking at each of them in a slow and arrogant way, he lifted his swords up and crossed them in front of him. "Today, the prophecy of my downfall ends. Cross Swords!" Energy flared up and shot out from each sword blade in an X shape, sand and water getting thrown out of the way in the energy's progress over it.

Salmon cursed under his breath as he saw the power up and turned around as fast as he could, jumping through the air and knocking the brown haired boy down in a desperate attempt to protect him. "Tai, get down!."

Tai yelped as Salamon plowed him down into the wet sand before the attack was even launched at them, the he felt the small digimon jump off as he sent out a few barks, the blue eyes beginning to glow as his power focused. "Puppy Howling!" The same loud high-pitched noise from before filled the are again, this time more directed and focused then before, the sound actually making Karatenmon cringed back from it. Watching the perfect opening his attack had made, Salamon stopped his howling and stormed forward to attack more directly. "Petty punch!"

Glaring at her, Karatenmon snapped opened his mouth and yelled out another attack. "CawCaw!" A glowing sphere shot out from his beak at the words and smacked the rookie digimon away from him and tumbling through the wet sand. Then he closed his beak and looked at the boy staring with tears in his eyes at his beaten digimon. "Pathetic, to think a mere Rookie could beat me, an Ultimate digimon."

Taking off from his place, Tai rushed past the ultimate digimon and dropped to the ground next to her. "Salamon?" Picking the weak digimon up in his arms, Tai glared at the digimon across from his, his eyes nothing more then narrow slits as he felt is hands clench up in pure frustration. "You bastard, I'll kill you, do you hear me!" place right in the center of his chest, a bright orange light erupted at the words and blinded the entire place, then it all seeped into the small puppy type digimon in his arms. "Salamon?"

In the boy's arms, the puppy digimon opened his eyes, and stared up at the boys, his eyes showing first his confusion, and then his determination as he rolled over and jumped out of the arms, landing on the wet sand and glaring at the ultimate digimon before them. "Tai, your courage healed me and gave me my strength back." Rushing forward through the sand, Salamon jumped into the air, his eyes glowing as a beam of light shot out of the cracked digivice in Tai's hands and into his body. "Salamon, digivolve too... Tailmon." Landing on the ground, a cat like digimon glared up at the birdman, a long thin tail moving around behind it. The tip of the long ears and tail wit it's stripes were colored a dark shade of Purple, making a sharp contrast to the white fur and blue eyes glaring up at the birdman type digimon with defiance. "Prepare to lose feather brain, Lighting Paw!"

Smacking the feline digimon out of the air with simple ease, Karatenmon laughed as he watched the shocked expression in the white furred face. Then he lifted his swords and hammered the hilts down on the head of the still airborne digimon. "Still as stupid as ever, a weak champion like you still don't have a chance, so why don't you just give up." Kicking the white body back to land before the boy, he crossed his swords and looked through the V of them, the yellow eyes glaring at the boy and digimon in a mocking way. "Now die, both of you."

On the ground, Tai stared from himself and his digivice to Tailmon lying on the ground, his eyes burning as he tried to find the power and strength to help his digimon, pulling himself up, he crossed over the body twitching on the ground and spread out his arms in a protective manner. "I'll die before you hurt my partner anymore." 

On the ground, Tailmon looked up as he felt a familiar and almost forgotten power flow through the air, weakened by the beating he had just gotten, all he could do was follow the trail of the energy to see a orange glow coming from her partners chest as a small medallion hanging from a simple gold tread formed around his neck. "Taichi's crest, it's active again?" Pulling himself up, he began to move forward. "Tai, I need your power, you must get me up to the next level again, it's out only hope."

Staring at it, Tai could dimly remember holding the small thing a long time ago, using it to send his digimon partner up to the ultimate level in order to fight someone. " My crest." Staring at it, he felt it respond to the power inside of him, the power of his courage. "Yes, it's my crest."

Looking from one of them to the other, Karatenmon laughed in a sickening way as he pointed his finger towards a strange item barely visible in the distance. "See that thing over there, it's a control tower, there was one right here a few hours ago, but I destroyed it, currently we're outside of the other ones range, but a small attack will change that, and then, your little digivolving tricks will no longer work." Rushing forward, he blasted the sand with a power wave of energy, sending both boy and digimon flying backwards, both of them hitting the sand painfully several meters back. "And so we pass the line of your doom." Staring at the Tailmon, his eyes narrowed in confusion as he looked up at the control tower. "I don't get it, as weak as your are, you should have been pushed back down to your rookie stage." 

Glaring at the birdsman as he pulled himself up, Tailmon twisted his tail through the air, whising that he had one of the legendary rings that would give him the power of an ultimate digimon, and not of a lower level Champion digimon. But, he did have something the birdman digimon didn't have, A human partner and a power flow from a crest to sustain him. "You can't kill me, as long as the crest of Courage exist, I will never de digivlve before I have beaten you."

Karatenmon stared down at Tailmon, and then up at the boy, his eyes once again sparkling with his sick desire to kill them both, a aura of arrogance forming around as he lifted his swords and began to laugh. "Excellent, then watch as I use my power to do this." Fling both swords forward; the yellow eyes became a dark shade of red as both swords began to glow. "CawCaw!" 

At the words, a bolt of ligth shot out and washed over Tai, the energy passed through his clothes with no harm to it or the skin under the thin material, but the crest and tag was another thing as a loud cracking sound filled the air. Reaching down and lifting it up to his face, Tai stared at the crest with a sick look on his face. "It's broken."

Laughing, Karatenmon stared from the ground into the sky, his laughter filling it with evil. "Shall we see how long you will last without that little trinket?"

Still holding the crest, Tai looked up and growled as he clenched his free hand as it shook with his anger. "I don't care if I don't have my crest anymore." Moving forward, he lifted up a hand and pointed a finger at the birdman like digimon, his eyes as hard as an uncut diamond. "Get ready to lose, we'll beat you without the crest if we have too." 

On the ground, Tailmon nodded and stood up, his eyes glowing with the courage of his partner, his claws began to buzz with the last energy he had to attack with. "If Tai won't give up, then I won't give up either." 

Taking another step, Tai stopped when the small sparks of light from his crest erupted into a full blown light show, the sand whipping around him and digimon as the small flat thing floated up into the air, the surroundsing getting bathed in it's energy. On the ground, Tailmon stood up straight as every trace of battle faded from his body. Then the light began to pull in around the crest as the flat thing began to expand, growing into a much bigger form that dropped down into Tai's hand. Round with a horn sticking out of the top, it was colored a dark orange with flame motifs done in red and yellow colors, the sign of his crest clearly seen right below the horn. "The crest, it transformed into a digiegg."

Staring at it, Tailmon gasped as he remembered an old legend he had heard about the digiegg in Tai's hands. "That's not a digiegg, that's a digimental, it will allow someone to armor digivolve." Turning away form the boy holding the new digimental, Tailmon smirked as he jumped forward to land on the ground, his tail now moving rapidly with his anticipation for the coming battle. "Tai, quick use the egg. It's our last hope." 

Staring down at the strange orange egg like thing in his hands, Tai blinked as he could feel it respond to him and his courage, looking down at the feline digimon standing protectively before him, he nodded and lifted it up. He was right it might just work and did they really have any other choice. Acting on instinct, Tai yelled out the first few words that came to his mind as he held up the strange egg like thing. "Digi Armor Energize."

On the ground, Tailmon yelped as a bright orange light washed over him, powering him up, and giving him the strength to. "Tailmon, Armor digivolve too... Lynxmon, the flames of Courage" The light fading away, a much large feline type digimon stood on all fours before Tai, the whole body of it was covered in waving flames as the mouth of the new digimon opened up to roar defiantly up at the dark sky.

Glaring at the new digimon, Karatenmon lifted both his swords out to the side and laughed out loud at the look in both of their eyes as they began to advance towards him. "Should that stunt scare me, guess again little ones." Hammering both sword s together, the energy he had gathered together flared up and shot out at them. "Cross swords."

Rushing forward to stop the flaring energy blade shooting towards them in a cross shape, Lynxmon felt her own power flare up as she wanted to protect her partner no matter what. "Thermal Mane." Hammering into the attack, the energy blades swept through the fires shooting out from Lynxmons mane with ease, but were still deflected far enough to pass by them with no problems. "Damn, he's too strong."

Lowering his swords, the birdman type digimon glared at them as he began to step forward. "Silly thing, I told you that wouldn't help, here let me put you out of your misery, both of you." 

Tai and Lynxmon looked at one another and came up with the same conclusion as the other. Even as Karatenmon lifted up his sword to cut both of them down, they had turned around and had started running away as fast as they could. "Head towards the cliffs over there." Lynxmon shouted as the sound of Karatenmon laughing filled the air. "It's the only way out of this place, the tunnels will take us back to the digital world again."

Rushing into the dark tunnel, Tai was glad for the fact that his digimon was a fire type one at that moment, the light from it's body giving both of the enough light to actually see something in the otherwise dark tunnel. Behind them, the sound of Karatenmon running rather then flying could be heard. "Are we there yet."

Glaring back into the tunnel, Lynxmon stopped running and turned to face the approving enemy, his fiery mane flaring up as his attack powered up again. "Thermal Mane, sending out a shower of fire from his back, it formed into a ball of fire shooting down through the tunnel seconds before it smacked into the bird digimon running towards them, then he was off again, trying to reach his partner who was a bit further up the tunnel.

Glaring after them through the dark tunnel, Karatenmon looked at the few remains of the fire attack around him, it had done absolutely nothing to him, other then ruffle his feathers, and he hated them for that, he was really going to enjoy running his swords through them both when he got a hold of them.

Ahead of him in the tunnel, both Lynxmon and Tai stormed out into the clean and bright digital world, the tunnel behind them nothing more then a small cave in the otherwise towering mountain. Stopping outside the tunnel, Lynxmon looked up at the rocks sticking out from the mountain above the cave entrance. "Thermal Flare." Hitting them Lynxmon kept the fire going, making the rocks glow red, then white from the intense heat. 

The sound of running feet and metal hitting metal was heard as a loud crowing began to come from the cave, then the outline of Karatenmon formed, his eyes glowing with anger. "Now, stop running away and die like the pests you are." Then the rocks finally gave up and fell down in a loud crash, hiding Karatenmon screaming out in surprise as the light suddenly vanished, leaving him to run head first into the new stonewall as his eyes never got a chance to adjust to the darkness. "Damn them." The last was muttered as he slid down to lie on the ground, a huge bump on his forehead.

Outside, Tai and Lynxmon cheered at the samml victory, then Lynxmon glowed a bright white light and reverted back into the small cute form of Tailmon, the blue eyes a big sleepy mess as he began to yawn loudly. Looking around the place, Tai picked him up and pattered his head. "Thank you Tailmon, that was awesome." Smiling down at the almost sleeping digimon.

Staring back up at his partner, the Tailmon rubbed a hand over his ear and smiled in a sleepy way as he began to drop down into a more comfortable position in the very warm arms holding him. "Tai, it great to see you again." Looking up at Tai and seeing a confused look on his face, he shook his head and smiled. "I'll explain the change later okay?"

Inside the cave, Karatenmon closed his eyes and reached out with his mind from behind the rocks blocking his further progress. Finding what he was seeking for, he smiled as he tapped into the boy's head. "Boy, you may have stopped me from ending this today, but I still have one last ace up my sleeve today." Reaching out and finding the remains of the poison floating in the boy's blood stream, he smiled and broke the spell cast on it, taking a great delight in the sudden flash of pain and fears the flowed back through the link. "One year boy, one year from now, the poison will finish what it started, and you will die."

Outside the cave in the widespread forest, Tai was leaning against a tree, his breathing coming in ragged gasp as he could feel the pounding in his heart and the slight pain flowing through him, the feeling of something eating away at him. "No..." Staring up at the blue sky, he dropped to his knees. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!!!."

Looking concerned at his partner, Tailmon jumped up and pattered the boy cheek, feeling a slight increase in the temperature and cursing as he began to recognize the signs from the last time he had seen them. "You have to get out of here, you need to break the contact between you and Karatenmon before it's too late." Pushing the boy over to a nearby TV set, he smiled and settled down to look at it. "Well, use your digivice and let's get out of here."

Smiling, Tai lifted up his digivice and felt the familiar pull he had almost grown used to as he was sucked in through the gate, sent flying out onto the floor of the computer lab, a wet and sandy feeling grinding into his eyes as he made contact with the dirty floor. "I really hate that gate." Pulling himself up, Tai stared down at the small very light yellow puppy running around him on the floor, it's blue eyes staring at everything in sight. "Salamon?" 

Stopping and looking up at him, the digimon jumped up into his arms and grinned, the small tail on it's back moving back and fourth, as it felt nothing but happiness at finally being together with his partner again. "Yes."

Walking over to open the door into the school hallway, Tai stopped with his hand on the handle and frowned as he got the feeling that he had forgotten something, something very important. Falling to figure it out, he pulled the door open and stared into a very surprise set of eyes under a mop of black hair several centimeters above him. "Teacher."  

Futabaki stared down at Taichi, his eyes not showing one speck of emotion as he took in the state of the boy, then he looked around the computer lap, not leaving one place uncheck as he searched the room. "So where's the other one Mr. Yagami." At the Brown haired boy's puzzled look, he sighed and waved his hand at the wet and torn clothes. "Two weeks detention for fighting in the computer lap Mr. Yagami" Turning around, he pushed the door a bit more open. "And one week for disobeying me." Before Tai could even protest, the teacher had lifted up his hand and stared over his shoulder. "I told you to stay outside the room, not run off and fight." Eyes staring at the clothes Tai was wearing, he sighed and shook his head at the sight of them. "Go change your clothes will you, I expect you back in the classroom in 10 minutes."

Blinking at the words, Tai looked down at himself and nearly screamed at the sight of his ragged and dirty clothes. "Remind me to bring more clothes to school with me if this happens every day." Looking closer at his shirt, he began to shake the sand off it. "At least the T-shirt can be used, now all I need are the pants from my locker and I'm ready once more." Closing the door into the room, Tai stared at the rows of computers and felt his chest tighten at the memory of Karatenmon's mental message. "One year, I'll beat him in less then that. No way is that jerk winning this."

Tbc in: Recall to adventure

AN: Well, what did you think, was it a good start, a bad one or should just burn this thing down before it becomes to damn ugly. Expect the next part to be around the same length, but don't expect it anytime soon. I need to work on a few other things first.


	2. Part II

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Summery: AU.

Quick note. I know that Gatomon and Tailmon are the same digimon, but to avoid confusion on the readers behalf, and mine I'm calling Tai's Gatomon Tailmon and using a male pronunciation for it, while Kari's will be called Gatomon and be referred to as a female. This was decided after advice from a friend, but at the time I got it, most of the last chapter was already written, so there may have been a few slips ups as I tried to go over the chapter and fix them. Thanks for reading this and I hope you don't give me to much bad response for it.

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A lone digi destined

Part II

Recall to adventure

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Staring long and hard out over the wide spread yellow and brown colored savanna before him, Taichi Yagami's eyes wandered to the one thing that didn't belong in that place, the one thing that he had grown to loath more then anything else, well maybe not as much as a certain birdman digimon but close enough to it, in the simple two weeks he had spent entering in the digital world already, towering up tall and proud, a control tower shattered the beauty of the place he was in. "You ready?"

The shuffling at his feet told him everything he needed to know as the digimon moved forward and looked at the same thing as him, the blue eyes having turned cold and hard as the towering thing loomed up over them, while they had been seeing things like those far to many times for her liking, it was still a reminder that they were at war. "Yes."

Snapping the familiar goggles around his neck onto their place around his head, Tai smiled and pulled out his D3 and D-terminal, looking up at the sky, he smiled and held out both objects at his digimon, it was time to fight again. "Digi Armor Energize."

A bright orange glare of light filled the area as the feline digimon did a small flip in the air. "Tailmon digivolve too... Lynxmon, the flames of courage." The towering fire covered cat moved into a better firing position and aimed at the tall thing as a small grin filled his face. "Thermal Mane!" The fire rushed out and impacted the black thing, melting part of it and causing a loud groaning sound to the fill the place. "Thermal Mane!" 

The second attack melted away more of the Control tower, and both human and digimon cheered as the tower tumbled over and crashed into the ground, a small earthquake forming as it did. In the area around them, they could see the countless dark ringed digimons in the area shake their heads and look around the place confused as they were freed from enslavement.

Lynxmon grinned and glowed orange as he shrunk down into Tailmon again. Then he jumped up to sit on Tai's shoulder, his blue eyes scanning the whole area they were in. "Well, I don't mind destroying control towers and freeing digimons." Looking at his partners face, as it grew darker, Tailmon carefully worded his next sentence. "But, we need to find Karatenmon to stop the poison from killing you, or at least a cure for it."

Eyes taking on a distant look as he though about it, Tai lifted a hand up to Tailmon and pattered the feline digimon on the head, while the other reached up for the small scar that was left on his chest, the welt had long since faded away and only a small tender red spot showed that something had hit him there. But nothing showed the slow working poison in his blood and flesh, the strength of it growing day by day until it killed him. "I know, but for now, we'll have to try and get stronger, remember, Karatenmon wasn't even winded by our attacks on him."

Tailmon stiffed and nodded as his blue eyes wandered across the savanna, over them, the sun was beating down with the force of a full-blown fireplace and making his fur damp with sweat and all sticky. "Think we can find some shade now?" The question had all the feeling of a plea as both of them had been complaining about the heat most of the time. "My fur really needs to be cleaned."

Nodding, Tai turned to try and see if he could spot any shade for them to rest in for a short time, finding none nearby, he stared up at the sky and shook his head at the brightness of it. "Maybe we should stick to the more northern pats huh." at the words, he felt Tailmon nodded from his place on the shoulder, then the brown haired boy returned to his scouting, the grass moving in the wind around him as he stared walking away from the wreck behind him. "Geez, you'd think that this Kaiser would at least protect his Control Towers." 

Tailmon grinned at the ease they had had with destroying the Control Towers that they had encountered in the southern parts of Server, so far all they had to do was Armor digivolve and destroy the black thing, then walk off in search of either confused digimons coming out of their slavery and trance, or looking for clues as to the where about of Karatenmon or his servants. Speaking of servants, it had been a while since they had last seen the one in charge of finding and destroying them. "Hey Tai, what do think happened to Gorillamon?"

Not stopping his walk at the question, Tai grinned and careful shook his head at the thoughts running through his mind at the sudden idea that maybe the fact that the strange servant of his main enemy had fallen into his own trap, or somehow he had been prevented from carrying it out, still, it was nice to have a slow day, but there wasn't time for that. "Maybe next time?"

Shrugging his shoulders at the words, Tailmon began to clean his paws and gloves with his tongue, his eyes staring up into the blue sky just like his partner was, dropping his eyes down a bit, he stared at the small TV screen they were approaching. "Back to the human world already Tai?" Trying to avoid sounding a bit sad, Tailmon opted to ask in a flat tone.

Reaching up and pulling his digimon partner down from his shoulder, Tai lifted up his digivice with the other hand and stared at the TV screen with a trouble look on his face, the thought of leaving a place with this much trouble in it for something as boring as school wasn't really something he liked, but for his mothers and Sisters sake, he had to go back, there was no way he would cause them to become concerned for him, no matter how much they were drifting apart. "Well..." Turning his head a bit, he looked down at his digimon partner, his eyes taking on a small maniacal glint. "Wanna come along."

Smiling as much as he could, Tailmon jumped down onto the ground and looked up at his partner, his eyes shimmering with happiness, and then a rather trouble look filled them as something became clear to him, something that was very important to all digimons. "Uh... As long as you don't give me anymore of your mother food okay! I need strength to fight Karatenmon, not a sick day."

Laughing at the comment, Tai pushed his digivice over to the screen, although it was a bit hard to keep it steady enough to open the gate and return home, the image of a sick Tailmon running through his mind mixed with the very livid memory of Tailmon's first time trying the sample of food he had brought with him. "Promise, I'll smuggle in some cheese okay?"

Every single hair on Tailmon stood up at the words from his partner, his face taking on a green color at the idea of eating that cross stuff, it was an insult just to think about it, a cat, eating cheese. "No way, I hate that stuff." 

Laughing even harder at the insulted tone from his digimon, Tai finally managed to open the digital gate, a bright white light filling the area as both the small cat and himself was dragged into the TV screen, and back into the quiet bedroom he had left an hour ago and to a the hopefully still sleeping little sister.

Walking out of the bushes as the light died down, a large white gorilla like digimon with a metal arm and cannon instead of the lower part of the left arm stopped and cursed loudly, his eyes staring from the TV screen down to the black object around the upper part of his right arm. There was no way that Karatenmon was going to know that he had gotten dark ringed by a human brat, crushing the object with his hand at the last dark thought, the digimon turned around to leave. He had failed his mission this time, but it would be a much different result the next time they met.

Hammering into the bedroom floor with a loud bump, Tai cursed the person who had come up with such a stupid gate program, sure it was nice being able to go to the digital world, and even better to have his own digimon partner and friend to talk too from time from time, but someone really had to do something about those stupid landings.

Pushing himself off the floor, he stared through the dark room and down at the angelic face of his sleeping little sister, her hair spread out on the pillow around her. Looking at her like that, it was hard to understand how they had gotten so distant in the last few years and even harder to understand how it had happened. Reaching down, Tai grabbed her blanket and pulled it a bit higher up, smiling down at her the whole time. "Sleep well Kari and... I'm sorry."

On the floor, one grumpy Salamon struggled to his feet and stared up at the image of his partner smiling down at his sister, a sad look in his eyes as he turned away from the bunk bed. Jumping up onto the swirl chair, the small puppy digimon jumped from there up onto the desk and stared at the image of the digital gate on the computer screen. "Aren't you afraid she'll wake up and see what you're doing at night?"

Smiling at his partner digimon as he reached over to close down the program, Tai shrugged his shoulder at the question, if Kari found out, she found out. It hadn't been that many years ago that they could trust each other to keep a secret no matter what, before they began to drift apart and he turned bitter at her for the loss of Sora's friendship.

Lifting up his digivice, he slipped it in under his pillow and dropped back down onto to get some last minutes sleep, his eyes shooting down to see Salamon look up at him from his chosen sleeping spot, right next to the brown haired boy's pillow, the blue eyes glowing in the darkness of the room in a eerie way before they closed. Rolling over to stare up at the ceiling, Tai cursed as he felt a small sting of pain run through his chest to remind him off what was at stake, then he finally managed to relax enough to get some sleep.

"Wake up Sleepyhead!!"

Sitting up straight at the cry, Tai screamed out loud and smacked his pillow down on the object of the noise in one swift movement, the sight of feathers floating through the room followed by a cry of anger from his sister as she tore the pillow out of his hands and smacked it right back into his face. "Uh... Sorry." The words were muffled as the pillow hadn't fallen completely down from his face yet, and his eyes were staring around the room in a confused manner.

Jumping down from the ladder, Kari rubbed a hand over the part of her head where she had been hit, it didn't hurt that much, but it had been enough of a shock to be hit with something, shooting a look up at her yawning big brother, she sighed loudly and walked over to the bed room door. "Mom says you have to get up now, you only have one hour to get ready." Closing the door behind her, she failed to see the half hurt look shot at her back.

Waiting until the door was closed and his sister had walked away, Tai slipped out of the bed and down onto the floor, his eyes half closed the whole time as he fumbled around for something to wear to school. Pulling out a simple blue t-shirt and his trusted brown khaki shorts from the bottom of his drawer, he stared at both items, sure he had almost worn them everyday, but they were his favorite. Looking at the alarm clock, he swore and rushed out the door, yelling a good morning to his mother and father as he passed by the kitchen on his way to the bathroom and a quick shower before facing the day.  

Stepping out from the bathroom a whole 15 minutes later, freshly showered, dressed and with his standard mob of brown hair, he felt more then ready to face the coming day with his usual go happy attitude. Pulling the toothbrush from his mouth as he stepped into his bedroom again, he stared out the window and into the blue sky above the city. "Looks like it going to be another great day for soccer, too bad I have to spend it in a math class with the teacher from hell.

"What's a math class?"

Screaming at the sudden intrusion on his one moment of the day to relax and enjoy the fading summer days, Tai whipped his head around to see one overeager and happy Salamon sitting on the lower bunk bed, the big blue eyes staring at him in such a cute way that made it hard for him to think straight. "Gah, stop that." Reaching down and picking up his trusted Digimon partner, Tai stared at the pink colored digimon and placed him on the desk in front of him. 2Okay, you've been avoiding this subject every time we try and talk about, so spill it, how come you're not Agumon anymore?"

Coughing a bit at the question the blue eyes of the small puppy type digimon turned a bit distant as several old memories rushed though his mind, each one either a good or a bad one. Then he smiled and sat back down again, maybe he did owe his human prater the full story about his change, and the reason it had happened. "It all started with the last battle we had with an evil time warping digimon called Milleniummon, we won the battle, but not without problems, you had several cuts and bruise and a mild concussion, not life treating but saver anyway, Ken had fallen ill and was delirious for a few days after it and Ryo, he just sort of drew away from you two." Taking a deep breath, he looked up at Tai with a dead serious look in his eyes. "I think he blamed himself for both of you getting hurt in the battle, Ken because he took a hit meant for Ryo and you because he didn't keep a sharp enough eye on you in the battle." 

Tai blinked and felt a faint tingle in the back of his mind as several strange and rather livid memories of pain and blood came back to haunt him, the look in the older boy's face every time he looked at them, and the feeling of a great loss that wouldn't go away, as if he had lost more then a few days unharmed. "You, something happened to you didn't there?"

Sitting down and looking out the window, Salamon sighed and began to try and find a way to put just what had been the outcome of the battle into the best and most positive ways. "I digivolved into Metalgreymon to battle Millenniummon, but even with Cyberdramon and Jewelbeemon to help me, the battle wasn't very easy to win, I had been hurt to much by the dark digimon and was deleted shortly afterwards from my injuries." Seeing the pain filled look on Tai's face, the puppy type digimon jumped over to run his head against his hand to give at least some comfort. "When Digimon dies, we go to Primary Village and are reformatted, but something changed while I was there, I didn't come out as a Botamon like I did the last time, but as a Snowbotamon instead."

"Taichi Yagami, are you going to spend the whole day in there, you still need to eat breakfast before going to school, and if you don't hurry, you'll be late for both things."

Looking at his alarm clock in a panic, Tai felt like screaming when he spotted just how much he was running behind, jumping up and grabbing his school bag, he reached out one hand and showed his books and homework into the school bag, failing to notice one very ticked off Salamon getting crushed under several books and a pencil case. "Sorry Salamon, gotta run see you later." Waving goodbye to an empty room, the messy haired boy rushed out into the hallway and into the kitchen, dropping down in his chair and assaulting the breakfast 

Staring at her brother across a spoonful of the breakfast she was finishing, Kari narrowed her eyes in suspicion, something was up, her brother wasn't distant anymore, and he was actually talking to their parents about the day. This didn't fit in with the image her brother had gotten in the last three years, ever since the downfall of his and Sora's friendship, and the way she herself had become to busy with the digi destined and their meeting and general hangouts with the others, he had drifted away from them, finally ending with the fact that they only talked when something important was up.

Watching as her brother dumped his plate in the sink, she grimaced as he picked up his schoolbag while yawning loudly. Geez, didn't he get any sleep at all, he was constantly either half asleep or bouncing in his seat like a small kid recently. Dropping her own plate in the sink, she grabbed her own schoolbag and left to follow her brother. It was her duty as his little sister to find out what was up; it wasn't like her brother to just change overnight. Maybe he had gotten a girlfriend. Stopping at the thought, Kari shook her head and snuck out the door after her brother. "She was getting to the bottom of this, right now."

Stepping out of the elevator and into the front hallway of the apartment complex they lived in, she walked over and pushed the door open, stepping out into the busy morning streets of Odaiba, and the many other kids headed towards the local schools. "Where is he?" Looking down the road towards the school, she failed to spot the messy brown hair or the rest of her brother for that matter as she began to walk to school herself. 

"Where's who?"

Stopping, Kari stared back and smiled at the person who had asked the question, standing there was the familiar face of her best friend Sora, and the rest of the both young and older digi destined, Davis and TK glaring holes into one another like usual. Staring at both of the boys, she shook her head and fell into place next to the red haired girl. "My brother, I wanted to talk with him, but he's already gone."

Sora nodded as she adjusted her shirk while damning the person who had decided that she needed to wear one to school to hell, she hated skirts, she may be more feminine now then when she was younger, but that didn't mean that she had to put up with the damn thing in the first place. "So, what were you going to ask him about?" 

Shrugging her shoulders, Kari returned her stare to the path ahead of them, her hair moving gently  in the sudden wind blowing down the street, behind the two girls Davis and Tk had broken their glare contest to stare at her. "I don't really know, he's changed lately, he's not as closed up or angry anymore."

Sora smiled as she reached out a hand to pat the younger girl on the shoulder, her big sister feeling making her smiled at new, it had hurt her to watch them grow apart, knowing that she had been partly the reason for it, her sudden breaking of meetings with the messy haired boy in order to meet with the other digi destined. "Don't be so down about it Kari, maybe he'll stop moping about all the time."

Behind them, a pink haired girl snorted as she remembered her first meeting with the messy haired boy, every bit of her going out in support to the brown haired girl for her ability to put up with a jerk like that. Personally, she was just glad if he didn't get within a hundred meters of her again. 

"Mimi?"

Looking up at the cry, she blinked when she noticed that she had fallen somewhat behind the others in the group as she had been thinking. Shaking her head to clear it off the strange thoughts, she held her school bag a bit tighter and rushed to gain up to them again, her pink hair trailing behind her from the speed she was moving at.

***************

Each screen flicker in the dark room, the image on one screen showing the same as all the other ones, but from a different angle, the control tower breaking in half as the fire melted through the black material. Then they shifted to show a brown haired boy staring at the damage him and his digimon had done. "How?"

Hammering a fist down on the arm rest of his chair, the digimon Kaiser looked up at the map of the digital world flashing on each screen in the room as his eyes wandered from each of them to the other. And each of them showed what he had grown angry over, another part of his rightful world had just been taken from him. "How can he do it, who is he?" The hand smacked into the armrest again as the Kaiser once again cursed the boy who just destroyed another control tower. "Seven times in two weeks, how can he do it?" 

"Master?"

Ignoring the one who dared to interrupt his thinking for the moment, the boy stared as each image shifted to show five other kids breaking his Control Towers and freeing the Dark ringed digimons time and time again, each of them cheering as he lost to them, the spiky reddish brown haired boy, the brat girl with the glasses, the small silent brat with all his nonsense about honor were really starting to get on is nerves. 

The sound of feet moving across the floor didn't pull him out of his dark thoughts just as the words hadn't, but the sudden hug on the lower part of his knees did, snapping open his eyes, he stared down at the digimon on the floor, the small green body showing nothing but weakness as it stared up at him with a look of kindness in it's eyes. "Get off me!" The look of kindness vanished as he sent it flying with a kick. "And I told you, call me the Digimon Kaiser."

Getting back up on his feet, the larva like digimon stared up at the human with a hurt look in his eyes as he walked closer to the digimon Kaiser, the eyes moving from the angry face to stare at the screens around the room. "Master, maybe you should relax a bit, you can always try again later, maybe that boy will have given up stopping you by then."

Turning around with cold eyes at the words, ken pulled off his glasses and stared hard at the digimon as he walked over to look down at the green larva staring back at him with love. "Shut up Wormmon." The kick wasn't as hard this time, but it was enough to send the digimon onto it's back again. Moving past the digimon on the floor, he stopped in the doorway and clenched his hand as his anger rose up higher then before. "Wormmon, look after things while I'm gone, and when I get back, I'll have come up with a plan to deal with whoever destroyed that Control Tower." Laughter filled the room as the boy moved out of the door and into the hallway beyond it.

Still on the back, Wormmon stared at the door and shook his head in a sad way as he tried to stay true to his promise of always protecting and helping his partner, even if it meant enslaving the digimons and conquering the digital worlds to do it. "Ken!" Where was the sweet and kind boy he had met all those years ago in the dessert? "Ken."

***************

Storming into his class room, Tai breathed out hard as he stared at the mostly empty room, the only pother students shooting a strange look at him as he took in a few deep breaths of air, then he pushed himself up and moved over to his desk the old demonic teacher drawing still on the desk, despite several protest and detention warnings from his teacher.

Dropping his head forward to rest on his hands, he closed his eyes and relaxed in the knowledge age that he had time for a quick nap before the teacher walked into the classroom, maybe destroying Control towers and hunting Karatenmon at night was too much, but it was the only time he could do it without Kari or his parents finding out. And there were the few narrow escapes to the digital world doing school time, but they were getting more and more difficult now that the other kids were using the computer most of the time.  

"Morning sleepy head!"

Glaring up at the smiling brown haired girl dropping into the chair next to him, he felt like groaning out loud and faking some sickness, anything to get away from the bubbly person next to him. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he stared at her as he narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you so happy about Motomiya?"

Smiling in a too sweet manner Jun she pulled out the poster from her school bag and held it up for Tai to see, well most of the class could see it as she had stood up to open it enough for the brown haired boy to see it completely. "Aren't they cool, and they are going to play this Saturday down at the gym!"

Shooting a rather bothered stare at the poster, Tai stared briefly at the blond haired teen shown with a mike in his left hand, the right moving out to look like he was asking someone to hold it. "The Teenage Wolves." Staring from the blond haired boy to the name of the newest rock band in Odaiba. "Yamato Ishida, hey, that's the guy Kari's hanging around with sometimes."

"Really, that's cool, think you get some tickets for the front row!"

Turning his head to look at the new voice that had suddenly interrupted him, Tai blinked as he stared into deep blue eyes and mop of blond hair almost similar to the boy on the poster, but then he blinked and noticed that it had been a mistake, whoever this kid was, he was the same as the one on the poster, heck, they didn't look alike. "Nah, my sister knows him, I don't."

Sitting back down after rolling the poster up and plopping it back into the round container she had brought it along with, Jun stared from the puzzled look on Tai's face to the blond haired kid, then she shook her head and reached out a hand. "Tai, that Michael, the student from America, you know."

Still puzzled, Tai turned around to look at Jun, his brown eyes half closed in confusion as he tried to remember when they had gotten a new student in the class, and why he hadn't heard about it before. "Uh, so, when did he show up?" 

Smacking a hand onto her face, Jun growled at the display of complete clueless ness by the wild hair boy, turning tired and annoyed eyes back to Tai, she reached out a hand and pulled Michael closer to them. "He was introduced on the first day, didn't you even pay attention to what the teacher said to us?"

Looking a bit sheepish, Tai looked from the angry girl to the puzzled look blond haired kid, the eyes showing a bit of confusion at what they were arguing about. "Uh, sorry about the confusion before." Sitting up a bit more and giving the blond haired boy more of his attention, Tai reached out a hand and shook the one the blond haired kid held out to him. "I'm Taichi Yagami, but you can call me Tai."

Grinning in response to the words, Michael, aka the blond haired boy shook the hand offered to him before giving a curious look at the drawing on Tai's table. "Michael, by the way, you don't like our teacher do you?" The rest was added as all three of them looked down at the drawing on the table.

Blushing a bit at the attention of his rather crude demon drawing of their teacher, Tai quickly placed himself over it, leaning over his desk in a hurried manner. "Um, well, let's just say I have a small problem with him okay." Grinning a bit stressed at the last words, Tai looked from both the blond haired boy to the messy haired girl in a way that showed he wasn't up to anymore talk, the brown haired boy sighed and returned to his sleeping. 

Blinking at the rather strange behavior from Tai, Jun shook her head and turned to look at Michael with a rather starry eyes look on her face, her hands calmly placed on the table before her. "So Michael, enjoying your stay here, despite some classmates rude behavior?" 

Looking up from his arms, Tai shot a dark look at Jun, the comment cutting a bit to close for his liking, so what if he was a bit rude to other people, it wasn't his fault he couldn't remember the blond haired boy from the first day, he had been too wrapped up in the matter with Karatenmon, and the poison. Not to mention his digimon partner, should he show him to Kari, prove that he really was a Digi Destined, or continued to keep it secret.

Speaking of Digimon partner, shooting a quick look down at his school bag, Tai felt like cursing as he saw a pair of blue eyes look back at him from the inside of it, the eyes showing that Salamon really didn't want to be in the school bag at all, leaning down and pretending to be looking for something, Tai stared at his digimon partner curled up inside the bag. "Stay there, I'll let you out in the lunch break."

Blue eyes closing as the puppy head nodded at him, Tai gave a quick smile and sat back up in his chair, wanting to grab a few more minutes of sleep, but seeing most of the other students starting to file into the room, his eyes moving around the room to see just who else had decide to make an early showing. Over there was the usual group of giggling girls and their boring gossip, the soccer team were gathered around the door talking animatedly with one another, some of them shooting questioning glances at him, clearly wondering why he had missed soccer practices in the last few days.

And walking into the classroom with no hurry, a familiar brown haired girl turned around and headed right towards the group of girls talking loudly in the corner, her pink hair stood out clearly and had him gritting his teeth as he could clearly remember her from the first school day, the one he had hit with the water bucker in the hallway. "Brat."

"Excuse me."

Tai grinned as he turned to see Jun's angry frown across from him as she stopped talking with Michael, it was rather funny now that he thought about it. With the way they had constantly argued with one another ever since getting stuck in the same class, they were acting more like brothers and sister then he did with Kari. Shaking the thought away, he ducked out of Jun's way as she tried to hit him on the head. "It wasn't you I talked about Motomiya."   

Stopping her other hand movement, she blinked and then followed the brown haired boy's eyes as he shifted his attention from her to a place behind her, and right towards one pink haired girl. Smirking as she readjusted herself in her chair, she turned back to stare at Tai, her eyes glinting with the sudden amusement she was feeling. "So tell me Tai, do you have a thing for Tachikawa?" 

"What!!"

Smirking at the very shocked and angry look on the brown haired boy's face, Jun leaned back in her seat and shot him a look of pure superiority. "Well, you've been staring at her constantly for the last two minutes, you insult her even if you two have barely talked, sounds like a case of hopeless love if you ask me."

His left eye getting a very bad case of the tick at the words, Tai felt his anger take off a warp seven, taking his brain along with it as the next few seconds were going to prove in all their glory. "I do not have any feelings for that bratty, pink loving, bubbled brained Tachikawa, Got it!!!" 

Silence fell over the room as everyone turned around in slow-motion to stare at the towering Tai pointing a finger at a smirking Jun, the very pink haired girl that he had just insulted in public. A nice death glare getting sent from her as her hand reached out and grabbed the first thing it got in contact with. "You jerk!!" Then everything speeded back up as a large textbook smacked into the messy haired boys face. 

Leaning forward to look down at the downed boy, Jun slowly turned her head to see a very angry Tachikawa sanding in the throwing position breathing heavily. Then she turned back around and returned her stare to the messy haired boy on the ground, probing him in the side with her foot. "Nice going Yagami, real nice."

Opening the door, Futabaki took a single step into the room and stopped, his eyes moving across the room in the way only a highly professional and experienced teacher could, the pink haired girl, Tachikawa was her family name, was still breathing heavily, a clear sign that something had happened involving her. "Explain."

Lifting up her head and returning to a normal way of standing, Mimi blushed as she noticed the very calm and highly trouble stare she was getting from Futabaki, and if she was not wrong, he was also highly annoyed as well. "Ahh, you see, it was all Yagami's fault, he insulted me and..." The hand wave from the teacher stopped her rambling before it really got started. "I'm sorry for disrupting the class Sir."

Moving his cold and non-caring eyes away from the pink haired girl, Futabaki settled for staring at the still downed Yagami with the same look he had given Tachikawa. "I see, well miss Tachikawa, since you were partly responsible for this mess." Looking up at her shocked and angry look, he held up a hand to stop her protest. "You knocked him out correct, therefore you are also a reason for my class not starting on time." Stepping up behind his desk, he opened a small book and began to turn the pages. "So you and..." Looking, up he stared at Jun and Michael with a frown. "Motomiya, think you can help him, if not Mr. Smith will take him down to the school nurse."  

Looking up from probing Tai with her foot, Jun blinked at the question, then she looked down at the boy and shook her head. "Eh, sure, I'll take him down there." Standing up and removing the book from the messy haired boys face, she chuckled at the large red mark on his face and the drunken look in his eyes. "Hey Yagami, you in there?" Pulling the boy up with a small grunt as she asked, she looked over at Tachikawa before she began to half drag; half carry the brown haired boy with her out of the room. "Well, come on goggle head, at least do your part as well."

Slowly taking a step and trying to stand up without help, Tai turned and shot the messy haired girl a death glare, failing completely as a headache smashed through it his skull. "Just, Shut up Motomiya." 

Walking slightly before them, Mimi grumbled as she found herself forced to step back and help support the jerk boy with the messy hairstyle. "This is all your fault you know." Not getting an answer, she continued to give as little support to him as she could while they walked down the corridor.

While the support he got from her as he stumbled down the corridor wasn't much, it was still enough to get him to work around his headache and focus on the words she had mumbled under her breath. {My fault, my fault...} Shaking his head as a memory flashed into his head, Tai shakily tried to walk more on his own, then depending on Motomiya and Tachikawa's help to do it. {I... I didn't mean too...} He wasn't really sure he tried to mentally apologize too Mimi or the one in his memory.

The door closed behind Jun as she gave a small wave before slipping back out into the corridor. Inside the room, Tai settled for staring up at the white tiled ceiling above him as he sank back down into the standard and rather hard bed in the room, Tai groaned as he felt the headache fade away, it had been a relief when he had been able to focus enough to walk on his own, or as Tachikawa had put it. "No longer being a..." Well the rest of the sentence hadn't been that flattering. When he got out of this place, he would have to at least give her an apology, but one thing at a time, first he had to live through the waiting period in this place, but thankfully having been used to it thanks to the accidents on the soccer fields, he had already learned how to pass the time while waiting for the nurse on duty to show up.

The sound of the door opening drew his attention away from counting the specks of dirt on the window after having counted all the discolored tiles on the ceiling, and towards the elder woman holding a clip board, a sigh passed from her as she looked at the messy haired boy before her. "Well, if it isn't one of my more frequent visitors, sow hat wrong this time Yagami, another bad tackle, or did you start another fight." 

Sitting up from the bed and his quiet thinking, Tai stared at the floor to hide his amusement over the whole situation and the way she was talking to him. "Well, I kind of got smacked in the head with a book, teach thought it best if I had you look at it." 

The nurse nodded and stepped over to him, putting down her clipboard on a small table next to the bed. Lifting up the messy haired boy's head, she grinned as she flicked on a light and shone it into his eyes. "So, who hit you with the book Yagami, look to the left a bit will you."

Turning his eyes in the directions he had been asked too, Tai chuckled at the memory of the few seconds he had felt moving in slow motion as the pink loving girl had hurled the book into his face. "Well, let's just say it was a case of open mouth insert foot syndrome okay."

Nodding to the statement, the nurse flicked off the light and instead prodded the red mark on his head where the book had hit him, nodding to herself and writing something down on the clipboard as she felt the messy haired boy flinch back from the touch. "You know, there are other ways to talk to a girl then insulting her." Stepping back from the bed, she turned around and walked over to a small cabinet. "It's also less likely to hurt." unlocking the cabinet, she pulled out a small bottle and returned to the bed, shaking out two small pills into her hand. "Now, as far as I can see, all you'll be getting is a bump, but just to be sure, I want you to take these two pills for now, but if you can still feel a headache tomorrow or later on, I want you to tell me." Stepping back to the cabinet, she placed the bottle back into it and close the small door, locking it when she did. "Now get out of here, and stay out of trouble."  

***************

"Report!"

White puffy summer clouds moved across the dark blue sky in a rapid pace, almost as if they didn't want to be over that part of the digital world, and indeed the action was justified, for towering up from the ground, a series of black and red hills filled the landscape below with a image of death, each of them showing just how harsh the area was. 

On the tallest of the hills, an old time Japanese castle rose into the sky and clashing with the background as a towering black fortress or tower would have looked better in the same place, but to the owner of the castle, the rest of the worlds view on it didn't matter, for at the moment, he was drumming one finger on the side of his throne and glaring at the digimons covering in the room before him. "The boy still hasn't been found! Why?" 

Covering before the raised platform with the throne on it, a white gorilla like digimon bowed his head and spread out his hands, the left one glinting in the dim light of the room as the well polished metal reflected it back out into the room. "I'm sorry Lord Karatenmon, but once again he managed to escape my trap."

Slamming his hand into the black colored metal of his throne, Karatenmon eyes glowed with anger as he briefly considered shooting the digimon before him into so much digital dust, then he forced himself to calm down before he did something rash again. "That's not good enough Gorillamon." Putting his hands together and forming a triangle with them, Karatenmon closed his eyes as he settled back in his throne. "Tell me my Gorillamon, didn't you lure him into the Kaiser's area?"

Nodding at the words, Gorillamon still kept his eyes and head downcast to hide his fear and shame at having failed once more in capturing the elusive digi brat that his lord had request him to find and kill. "Yes, and the plan worked fine, the other human brat sent a digimon to fight him, and as the boy and Lynxmon was busy fighting him, I sent in my own forces to over power the boy." Gorillamon gulped as he came to the bad parts of his report. "What I hadn't expected, was the Kaiser sending out a shower of dark rings, he captured my soldiers and nearly got me as well, I had no other choice but to flee."

A sharp hiss of air escaped from his beak as Karatenmon pressed his fingers against each other with more force at the words, the slight pain as the thing bones began to bed from the force helping him to keep focused on the tale and not just kill the digi fool before him out right. "Then try again, I want him destroyed before he becomes too powerful."

Looking up from where he was kneeling, Gorillamon nodded and rose up, his eyes hard and full of anger at the human boy and that pet digimon who had dared to humiliate a proud member of Karatenmon's honor Guard. "I shall not fail you this time my lord." Turning around, the huge white digimon lumbered out of the room, his next move already playing out in his mind.

In the dark room, Karatenmon stared at the retreating figure, his eyes narrowed in cold contempt and displeasure, one hand fingering the hilt of his swords absently. "Trust me Gorillamon, failure will not be accepted." Standing up from his throne, the bird digimon shot a look out into the room and right into each of his servants hiding in the shadows around him. "Go, I wish to be alone."

Shuffling filled the room after his order and it didn't take long before the main room was completely empty, the only sight that anyone had been there were the many traces of dirty footprints and stench of the more trusted digimons that served under him. Cursing the stupidity of his servants, Karatenmon walked around to the back of his throne, his hands moving away from his swords and up to pull aside the heavy wall cloth and exposing a narrow hallway behind it. "That boy, he doesn't feel like the chosen one, something is missing from him."

Stepping out of the hallway, Karatenmon stared straight ahead at the small alter placed in the center of the small chamber he had stepped into. Completely different from the rest of his castle, this one had dark gray brick walls and a black colored stone floor, the center of it turning into a bright crimson colored stone circle, a small fire burning right in the center of the crimson circle. Stopping a single meter away from the circle, the bird digimon lowered down onto one knee and stared right into the fire. "Master, the destined one, are you sure it's that boy?"

The flames slowly rose higher into the air, the tip of them nearly reaching the ceiling in the small room, the they spread out to form a large thing wall of flames, the red, yellow and orange colored fire flickered and turning into a dark color in the center of them, slowly, a blurred and very out of focus image formed. "Are you having doubts, Karatenmon?"

Bowing deeply to the image before him, Karatenmon coughed a bit and tried to hide hoe nervous he was at talking to this hidden digimon, the fear at what would happened if he failed clearly running through his mind. "No, yes... I mean, he can't even handle Gorillamon, he fights him, and then runs away again, I'm starting to think he might not be the one." The doubt was clear in his voice, and clearly showed just how much he didn't trust the legends.

Humming a bit at the words, the shadow inside the fire blurred out even more and the refocused again as the one on the other side sighed loudly. Moving a hand up, the blurred image shifted and several lines of text spread out instead of the figure. "Yes, the legends claims the one with a Tailmon and the crest of Courage will defeat us." a long silence followed as the figure gave the impression of thinking about something. "Clearly, the legend is just starting, and Karatenmon, I trust you to prevent it from coming true."

The birdman digimon bowed even lower at the order and cursed Gorillamon once more for failing to complete the task already, then his thoughts wandered to a different subject, something that was even more vital to the completion of their plan. "Master, we are looking for the temples you told us about, but so far, all we've found are ruins." 

The text faded away and the blurred outline returned instead, the shadows cast over the fire clearly showing the anger of whoever was on the other side of it at the bad news, then they relaxed and reopened as a very cold feeling spread through out the entire room. "Well, try harder, the four seals must be broken, only then can I return and reclaim the Server Islands." 

Gulping loudly at the level of displeasure from his master, Karatenmon once again bowed deeply and then began to relax as the fire seemed to dim down, the heat inside the room rising again as the presence in the fire faded away. Sitting still for a few more seconds after the flames had returned to normal, Karatenmon finally rose from his place on the floor. "Yes master."

Returning to his main chamber, the birdman digimon fingered his sword in a nervous way, the cold and hard mental shell he normally wore to hide his true feelings were still not fully restored, and it wouldn't do to summon a servant until he had gotten all of his nerves calmed down enough. 

Dropping into his throne as he felt relaxed enough at last, the yellow eyes filled with cold contempt and anger as he lifted his hand up and snapped his fingers loudly, the sound of it reverting around the room for several seconds after he had done it. Even as the sound began to die away, the almost completely silent footsteps began to fill the place again. "I wish to speak with Fugamon and Hyogamon at once."

The room filled with hurried footsteps as several servants left to find the two digimons their master had ordered them to find and bring to the throne room, it might not have sounded like an order, but every single one of them knew the sound of a death threat when they heard it. Breaking up the small group, each of them headed down a different corridor inside the castle and searched on.

Drumming his fingers on the metal armrest on his elegant throne, Karatenmon eyes narrowed in restlessness and anger over how long it was taking those bumbling servants to find two digimons in his humble castle. Shooting a few concerns as to the whereabouts of the brown haired boy that was prophecies to kill him, he snorted at the memory of the only battle he had had with the boy and that pet digimon so far, it hadn't even been a challenge to him.

Looking up at the sound of feet hitting the floor, he gave a smile as he noticed the two top fighters in his service and the ones in charge of his lower ranking army. Both of them rather ugly by digimon status and somewhat dimwitted and rash, they were still the best at training and leading his grunt forces to glory. "Fugamon, Hyogamon." Watching as they both saluted him, he smiled and stood up. "Gather our army, it's time to begin the grand play, and we start it, by invading the Forest Island."

***************

Landing nicely on the digital ground, the new team of digi destined looked up at the digital sky above them, their eyes moving across the countless stars shinning down at them from above night sky, and then the saw the usual dark tower breaking the beautiful scene just like it usually did, a constant reminder that they there not there to relax, but to fight.

Stepping up in front, a blond haired boy wearing a hat like the famous Gilligan from the TV show had. Turning to face the control tower, he lifted up his hand and pointed at the tower. "Okay, let's get that thing down, but stay alert, and Davis, don't do anything stupid you hear." 

Davis, dressed in his digital world outfit mumbled something under his breath as he began to follow after the blond haired boy, his hands showed into the pocket on his bomber jacket. 2Don't do anything stupid, who does TM think he is anyway, arrogant jerk."

Behind him, a girl with long purple hair shook her head at the sentence and walked a bit faster, aiming to catch up with the other female member of their group. "So, Kari, what's on your mind, still thinking off your brother?" Smiling in a friendly as she asked, the girl pushed up her glasses as they began to slide down.

Looking up from her thinking, Kari turned to smiled at the girl beside her, a small nervous smile as she adjusted her backpack to a better position. "Yeah, I heard he got into some trouble today, I can't help but wonder what's wrong with him." Sighing, she slowed down a bit and stopped to look at something off to the side. "I mean ever since this whole thing with the digital world began, we have kind of been drifting apart."

Behind them, the group of digimon's partnered to the kids walked as well, with the exception of Gatomon and Hawkmon who stopped as their human partners did. 

Turning to stare at the white feline digimon besides him, Hawkmon rubbed a wing over his in confusion at the subject the two girls were talking. "What are they talking about? What's a brother?" 

Sighing at the clueless ness of these new digimons, Gatomon slowly pulled him away so her partner wouldn't hear them talking about her brother. "I'm not sure, but it seems Kari's brother Tai, had some trouble adjusting to the fact that she's a digi destined, something with her changing and spending less time with him as a result of the experience and amount of growing up she did here."

Nodding in understand, Hawkmon turned to stare at the female kids as they laughed about something. "So, she's worried that they she might lose him, like I sometime worry about losing Miyako?" Forming a sentence for the way he had understood the words of the feline digimon in the best way he could, Hawkmon looked to Gatomon for confirmation that he had gotten it right.

Nodding to show that it was, Gatomon edge a bit closer to the other digimon, her eyes looking up at Kari in a sad manner as she began to whisper. "Right, but remember when they brought us to the real world a few days back?" Watching as Hawkmon nodded, she continued her conversation. Well, I took a small trip around the place, and I could smell a digimon in the place, one that had been there recently."

Eyes growing a bit wide, Hawkmon move closer to the feline digimon and whispered to her as well. "Think, he could be the Digimon Kaiser?"

Gatomon shook her head as she shoot a quick look at the group of the two girls. "No, there's a big difference between the Kaiser and Tai." Her eyes taking on a distant look, she sighed. "I think the place was visited by a digimon alright, but I can't tell if it's a spy sent by the Kaiser or something else."

Hawkmon eyes narrowed as he rubbed a wing over his chin. "But, you have told Kari this right?"

"No." Gatomon replied as she once again shook her head. "I don't want to trouble her, and I might still be wrong about the whole thing, and I don't want to trouble her."

***************

A great deal of distance away from the new team of digi destined, a huge flying rock slowly moved across the dessert, a line of Control towers following right behind it, showing just where it had come from. On top of the cliff, a huge metal dome glinted in the hot sun, sending shivers down the spine of the few digimons living in the desert zone.

Staring at the screen inside his base, the Digimon Kaiser glowed with anger as he spotted the other brats that had started showing up in the digital world lately. Clenching his hand at the memory of the beating his last plan and servant had gotten at the hands of the other human boy in the digital world, he narrowed his eyes in anger as he stood up and pressed a few buttons on his control board. "Send out Tyrannomon to keep them busy." Staring down over his shoulder at the worm like digimon behind him, he snarled as he stepped away from the chair and digimon his steps carrying him towards the door. "I won't let anyone else interfere with my plans, not again, this world is mine, and they are not welcome."

Moving rapidly through his base, the boy smiled as he thought of how much joy he would be getting from putting his dark rings on every single one of their digimons, the terrible look in their eyes as they own partners turned on them and forced them to leave the digital world forever. "Soon, those brats will cover before me, the perfect human." Laughing in a sinister manner, the young boy continued to watch as a rain of dark rings fell on the helpless digimons below.

{Ken} Staring in despair as he watched his partner, Wormmon felt his heart clench in despair. Could this really be what the warm and kind boy ha wished for all his life, to enslave and control a world of digimon's? {No... I'll never give up, I know he still the same kind child I met in the desert so long ago.} Moving forward to be closer to his friend, the worm like digimon rubbed his side against the leg. "Ken."

Pulling his leg away and shooting a dark look down on the digimon below him, the eyes of the human boy showed his anger towards the creature before him. "I told you a hundred time already, call me master you worthless fool, not Ken." Watching the hurt expression in Wormmon's eyes, he snorted and sat back up in his chair returning to the task of enslaving as many digimons in the area as he could before dinnertime.  

Watching the screen showing just how land he controlled, his eyes stopped as they landed on a single white square near the center of the digital world map. It looked the same as all the other ones, but not to him, that one had a very special memory attached to it. 

_Lifting a hand triumphantly into the air, the Digimon Kaiser turned to stare at the digimon flying in the air next to him with a sick grin on his face. "I grow tired of this, Flymon. Finish them." Turning to stare at the shocked kids under him, he smiled as he let his hand drop down in a wide arch. "Just wait until you see him... Spontaneously Self combust!" The disbelieving scream came as the evil boy watched the Flymon scream out in pain as fire rushed over it from somewhere behind them. Turning around in rage, the spiky haired boy stared in the direction the attack had come from with anger in his eyes. "How dare you? Show yourself!" _

_On the ground, Kari, Tk, Miyako, Davis and Cody smiled at the un expected help, then looked at the their digimon partners with a confident look on their faces. "Do it!" The mixed shout drew the Digimon Kaiser out of his thoughts and had him turning around in time to see several Armor digimons rushing towards him.  _

_Flicking his whip in a rapid motion to, he felt the Airdramon pick up speed as it moved away. "Damn them." Staring back over his shoulder, he blinked as a red glow lit up in the direction of his control tower, followed by a loud crash and several trees tumbling over and snapping as the tower fell down on them before landing on the ground. "No!"_

_Behind him, Pegasusmon stopped flying as he deemed himself close enough to knock out the Airdramon without hurting it or the boy on the back, no matter how much he wanted to hurt the boy, only to blink as the boy turned around and smirked. "Airdramon now." Then the tail of the still controlled digimon cracked through the air like a whip and knocked him out of his course, sending him flying towards the ground in a rapid dive. "Goodbye Digi destined, until we meet again." Nearly crashing into the ground, Pegasusmon pulled back up into the sky and unleashed his attack, crying out in frustration as it flew into a group of nearby bushes thanks to a expertly carried out turn from the digimon Kaiser's Airdramon._

_Looking back over his shoulder, Ken sneered as he grabbed a bit harder on his whip, his other hand moving up into a mocking salute to the rapidly fading digi destined and digimons behind him. "Farwell for now, the next time we meet will be the last." Seeing that they were out of hearing range, he shrugged and returned to staring into the distance. "Wormmon, did you see who it was that attacked us?"_

_The small wormlike digimon looked up from where it was holding on to him with a curious look. "No master, but the attack, it was the same as the one that the brown haired boy's digimon uses." _

_Nodding to himself as he half listen to the worthless digimon's words, he stared down at the ground below them, his control tower were gone, and it had happened while his prime targets had been losing, victory had been so close, only to be taken from him by this wild card of boy. "I wish to know more about him Wormmon, like why he isn't working with the rest of the brats."_

_Wormmon nodded as he felt the confusion in his partner, a small glimmer of joy in his heart over seeing his partner fail, the more damage those other kids did to Ken's empire, the bigger the chance that he would one day pay attention to his digimon partner, and listen to reason, but that also meant helping him no matter what. "Shall I send out a digimon search party to look for him when we get back?"_

"No." Looking up from his place, a sinister smile had found it way onto the Kaiser face, a dark plan already forming in his mind, and when it had been perfected, he would either have a new enemy to deal with, or an ally against the other brats, even if he wasn't a perfect being like himself, but all great movement required a few sacrifices. "I wish to deal with this matter personally."

Standing up, Ken smirked as he went over the plan in his head one more time, he only need to find the perfect place to spring his trap, and then he would be rid of one torn in his side, one way or the other, but first. "I'm going home." 

Turning around and walking out of the room, the last thing Wormmon heard form the boy was. "How I hate dinnertime, why must I always be trouble by lesser beings and their worthless needs."

***************

Moving slowly down the hallway as soon as the last class ended, Taichi Yagami clutched his gym bag close as he peeked around the next corner, his eyes locking onto the door leading into the one room in the entire school that he had never thought he would be so eager to enter. Seeing none beside him there, he slipped around the corner and move swiftly towards the door, stopping to open it just a little bit to check in anyone was inside of the room.

"Izzy, are you sure we that we should have left the room?"

"Yes I'm sure Mimi, beside, we both needed something to drink, as you were the one to point out remember, but if you so concerned, you go back and watch them."

Blinking at the voices coming closer to him, Tai panicked and opened the door he had intended to just peek in through, moving into the barely illuminated room and letting out a breath of air he didn't even know he had been holding. "That was too close." Looking up, Tai felt like cursing when he remembered that this was the only room that students could spends some time in after school had let out. "I need to open the gate and get out of here."

Staring around the computer room, Tai grinned when he noticed that there wasn't anyone in there at the moment, at least none that were using a computer. Moving further in, he blinked as he noticed that the computer right in front of him was turned on, and a very familiar program was running on it. "Guess the other kids are in the digital world. Still, it makes it a bit easier for me." Lifting up his D3, he stared as the gate program reacted to it. "Digi port open!" With a bright glow of light, he was sucked back into the digital world once more.

Opening the door, Mimi stared around the computer room with a look on confusion, her eyes moving over the rows of empty desk and chairs in it. Hadn't she just seen someone enter the room just a minute ago, Moving in closer, she frowned as the digi port switched from open to closed before her, then her eyes moved to the small screen, her eyes widening as a familiar figure rose to his feet, a Gatomon look alike standing at his feet. "Who is he, he looks so familiar."  Watching more closely, she felt something stop inside of her as the boy turned around and showed his face. "It's him?!?"

Looking up from where he had landed in the digital world, Tai shook the confusion and cobwebs from his head and shot a quick look around the area, the sun was shinning brightly in the sky above him, and the grass was moving in a gentle breeze moving through it. In the distance several towering trees offered shade from the heat and a place to scout out for any trouble.

Taking a first step towards them, Tai stopped as he noticed Tailmon tense up besides him, the tail of the digimon puffing up in size and the blue eyes narrowing to slits as he slid into a battle position. "Something up?"

Moving his head slowly to the side, Tailmon stared into the distance, his eyes focusing on a small red shape sitting in the biggest tree several feet off the ground. "Someone's watching us from that tree over there." 

Turning to face the tree's again, Tai narrow his eyes as he tried to make out the one his partner had spoken about, nearly giving up as he could see was a normal green leaved tree, he stopped when one of them suddenly moved as a red insect type digimon moved a bit out on a branch. "That's him?" 

Tailmon nodded and began to walk closer to his partner, eyes never leaving the digimon as he did so. "He was just watching us, don't know if he's one of Karatenmon's goons or a dark ringed one."

Tai nodded slowly as he moved a hand down towards his D3 and D-terminal, several weeks of getting hunted by Gorillamon and his cronies had given him a good deal of mistrust towards all digimon's he didn't know. "Think you should armor digivolve buddy?" 

Still staring at the digimon, Tailmon suddenly relaxed, as he looked closer at it. "No need, it's a Tentomon." Sitting down to clean his glowed paw, Tailmon looked up at his partner. "Relax, he doesn't have a dark ring, and Tentomons are friendly and curious digimon's, I'm sure he just wants to know who we are."

Landing on the ground before them, the Tentomon looked from one of them to the other one, a good deal of confusion in the green eyes as it stared at Tai. "Say, you look like the one I saw four years ago." Stepping closer, it looked up and down the brown haired boy with confusion on its face. "I didn't know you were a digi destined." 

Eyes showing his own confusion, Tai stepped closer to stare at the bug like digimon before him, his eyes growing big as he suddenly remembered where he had seen it before. "You were with my sister and her friends back then."

Tentomon nodded as he took off from the ground, hovering in the air before the boy. "Yup, Izzy mentioned you a few times, something about you two being friends." Flying in a circle around the boy, the bug like digimon looked down at the cat like digimon at Tai's feet. "So, you have a Gatomon for a partner?"

Eyes nearly bugging out of his head at the words, Tailmon lifted up his glove and smacked it out after the insect type digimon. "Hey, I'm a Tailmon, not a freaking Gatomon." Tail twitching, the cat digimon turned to stare up at his partner. "Let's go Tai, we need to find Karatenmon."

Stopping his flying, Tentomon turned around to stare at them as he landed on the ground once more. "You're looking for Karatenmon?" One hand scratched his head as he looked at the feline digimon. "But, why are you looking for him here?" 

Tailmon stopped walking away and turned his head to look back at the flying bug digimon with a look of disbelief on his face. "Why do you think, we have to defeat him." Tail twitching as he turned fully around, he looked up at his partner. "That's why we were called back into service, we have to defeat him, to save Tai and the digital world from him."

Tentomon buzzed a bit around in the air as he processed the information he had gotten. "Strange, I thought all human's in the digital world was here to fight the Digimon Kaiser." Hovering over to Taichi, the bug digimon looked at him again. "So, why do you need to be saved from Karatemmon?"

Tai coughed a bit at the question and stepped back, his hand moving away from the digivice and towards the goggles around his head to make sure they were still in place. Well, it was just an excuse to have something to do while he tried to come up with an answer, he hadn't really expected to run into a chosen digimon so fast, he wasn't ready to face any other kids about his mission. "I... I just need to defeat him that's all." 

Tentomon scratched his head in confusion again before coughing a bit himself. "Well, in any chase, you're looking in the wrong place if it's Karatenmon you're seeking." Flying up into the air again, he hovered a bit above them as he spoke. "He's a major figure on the Server Islands from what I've heard."

Both Tai and Tailmon had a puzzled look on their face as they stared at the digimon flying above them. "Server Islands?"

Tentomon pointed a claw in a southward direction as he stared at the human and digimon below him. "Yeah, it's a series of smaller and bigger Island to the south of Server. The place isn't that well know, but several digimon's has their homes there." Tentomon buzzed a bit as he turned to head back to the tree. "I don't really know how to get there, but I bet someone else does, if you will excuse me, I have to report to Izzy on the information I got on the Kaiser current plans."

Tai took a step after the bug like digimon as he began to fly away. "Hey, got any idea who we could ask about the place?" Yelling out the words, Tai stared after the digimon with a look of hope on his face, maybe running into this digimon wasn't such a bad thing, sure he would most likely tell the others about him, but if he could also tell him where information about Karatenmon could be gained, then he could live with his sister bugging him about an answer, or even her anger at him refusing to tell her what he had been doing all this time.

Stopping, Tentomon looked over his shoulder, his eyes locking right onto Tai's as he went over the request from the human boy. "Try Babamon, she might know something, she lives down by Lake Fate. You can't miss her." Pointing towards the west, Tentomon turned back around to return to his tree. "But I suggest you wait for Izzy or one of the other chosen before you go, you could use some help if you want to fight..." Stopping, as he heard no reply, he turned around and stared after the boy running towards the west. "You could at least say thank you."

Looking back and waving a hand, Tai smiled as he increased his pace. "Thank you Tentomon, and tell Izzy I said hi."

Running next to him, Tailmon looked up at Tai, confusion clear in his eyes. "I thought you didn't want the others to know about this."

Tai sighed as he slowed down. "Well, I didn't, but now." Tai looked back at the trees in the distance. "Tentomon will tell them about us anyway, we might as well try and get to live with the fact that they know about it." Slamming a hand into his fist, Tai grunted as he began to walk instead of running. "I only wish it could have been on my conditions that they found out."

Tailmon nodded in understanding, even he really didn't understand a word of what his partner had said, it confused why his partner was so reluctant to work with others, gah, now he was getting to confused, better change the subject. "So Tai, what do you think Karatenmon is up to?"

Tai shrugged a he picked up the pace. "Beats me, guess he plotting something evil." 

******************

Far away from the location of Tai or any of the other humans in the digital world at the moment, the four island of Server rested in the middle of the digital sea, each of the on par with any other islands on earth, the wind playing softly through the trees and field of grass on each of them, although the number of trees were rather varied and scattered about. The northern one was completely forest with small areas of grass while the southern one was nothing by a giant desert with a few oases here and there. The western and eastern isle looked almost the same with the mountain range and the mixed landscape of forest, savanna and wastelands.

On the northern Island in the group, a small castle rose up from the middle of the swamp like parts of the forest island in a rather strange and twisted way, from the looks of it, the sight of the castle would convince anyone that a drunk had built it, the four towers were twisted and stood out in different angles from the poorly built walls and gave anyone the sense of being on the verge of collapsing at any second if you as must as sneezed on the walls. 

From one of the towers, a simple banner waved in the air showing just whom the castle belonged too, one the simple red green background; a black outline of a Numemon was sewn onto the side of it. And if that wasn't enough, one could always stare at the large number of the different kinds of Numemon's walking around the walls or into the forest as well.

Moving closer to the castle. One could make out that while some of them looked like Numemons, Some of them were moving around with strange snail like shells on their backs, the rest where normal Numemons. To the outsider, the number of Numemons would have had anyone running for their lives as the digimons where known to have a bad temper and a willingness to fling Poop at anyone that entered their little kingdom without permission.

But on this very day, something was different as most of them stopped and stared at the rising commotion at the entrance into the Numemon castle. Turning to get a better look at the digimon causing all the noise, many of them blinked as they spotted the sight of a badly hurt digimon from the neighboring kingdom of the plant type digimons.

Moving closer to the digimon, several blinked when they recognized one of the rookie type digimons from the plant kingdom, this one going by the name of Alruamon, a data version of the digimon Palmon, the only difference found in the temper and color department, as the flower on it's head was purple instead of pink and red, it also lacked the patience of it vaccine counterpart and had a more red hot fiery temperament. 

Pushing the Numemon's jumping towards it out f the way, the plant type digimon moved slowly towards the castle on a set of badly burnt root like feet, the left arm full of tears gushing out small trails of green blood, that moved down to land on the ground as he moved forward in a frantic pace, one sentence being muttered over and over again. "He coming, they're coming, no one can stop him. Karatenmon's coming." 

Staring at one the shell wearing numemons, the normal numemon's shuddered at the words muttered over and over again from the, as he could see now that he had come close enough, dying plant digimon. But it wasn't the fact that the plant digimon was dying before him that had him scared, it was the fact that Karatenmon was coming, the terror of the southern Island of the Server continents part of the Digital Sea. 

"Someone warn the king!"

"Yes... BlackkingNumemon will know what to do."

The shout caused a wave of Numemons and their counterparts Shellnumemons to run madly towards the main part of the castle, overwhelming the poor guards outside as they rushed to warn the only Ultimate to live in the castle at all. Their beloved King of all of the digital swamp they lived in.

Looking up from his sleeping spot, a dark gray Numemon with a silly little black mustache and a iron crown with several yellow balls on it blinked his red eyes as the door into his champers was broken down by a rush of his loyal and scared servants rushed towards him, all of them yelling the same thing at the same time. 

After a good deal of trying to sort out what was happening, the numemon king finally managed to piece together the full impact of what was going to happen in a very sort time. Staring from each of the bowing, and some case crying Numemons, he paused and wondered briefly if he shouldn't just grab as much food as he could before running off. Then he sighed knowing that how suicidal it would be, he had to stay, if he didn't, he would lose all of his loyal servants, not to mention he would have to work to get something to eat again.

Standing up in his full height, something that wasn't as tall as he whished it was, he stared from each of the Numemons to the other ones as he began to go over defense tactics in his head. "ShellNumemons!" The numemons with the snail house moved forwards and stared at their leader with eyes full of fear. "Round up the Raremon forces in the swamp." Nodding and rushing out of the room, Blackkingnumemon turned to the remaining forces in the chamber. "Numemons. Find as much food and allies in the swamp as you can." As they rushed out of the room, the king of the Numemons sank down on his fluffy red pillow and sighed at the thought of losing everything he had worked so hard for. "Damn."

As night began to fall over the castle, BlackkingNumemon stared out over the swamp from the wall of is castle, on the ground, the combined forces of dozen upon dozen of Numemons, Shellnumemons and the much larger Raremons stood together in several large defense lines, each of them staring into the darkness of the forest, hoping to spot the coming forces before it was too late.

"Look, up there!"

Staring up at the cry, The king of the Numemon's nearly screamed at the sight of several Yanmamon's flying through the night sky in a large triangular formation, each of them headed clearly towards them, on the backs of the closest ones, he could see at least two smaller round figures. "They're here!" Screaming out the words, he watched as all of his forces turned their attention towards the danger coming form the sky, something that would prove to be a big mistake only a few minutes later. 

"Thunder Ray!"

The cry rang throughout the night as all the Yanmamon's fired their attack at the same time, several yellow rays of lightning shooting down into the neat lines of Digimons on the ground, the explosions sending smoke and debries flying in all directions from the power of the attacks alone. Then they flew in over the castle, low enough for the shadows on their backs to jump off and down onto the walls.

Staring at the round digimons landing on the ground, BlackKingnumemon groaned at the sight of the many champion digimons as they turned to engage the few forces standing on the wall. "Kougamon's, the elite champion forces of Karatenmon." Turning to stare down at the ground troops outside his castle, he blinked when he noticed the many lights moving towards them from the forest. "No!" 

Taken by surprise form the air, many of the Numemon's had turned their attention skyward, their eyes following the flying enemy as it flew over the castle to drop off the elite forces, before they circled around to attack once more from the air, the attacks cutting through his troops like a knife through butter. The few who were still staring into the forest spotted the invading ground forces too late, and their hopeless cries of surprise were cut down as the first attackers hammered into their ranks.

Screaming in terror, the ultimate king of the Numemon's ran away, his crown falling to the ground as he did so, the cold laughter coming from the sky urging him to keep running in the hope that he could somehow escape from the source of that evil laughter. Rushing into the castle, he ignored the cries from the Numemon's and Shellnumemon's getting overpowered around him by the more agile and powerful Kougamon's battling them. 

Reaching his own room, the black coloured ultimate rushed inside and jumped into the large pile of pillows near the wall, the small body of his pressing right into them with ease and hiding him from the carnage taking place outside his room. Pressing further down, he gave a small squeak of fear as the sound of boots hitting the stone floor could be heard. "Please don't be him, please don't be him."

All it took was one move form the digimon to find the cowering king of all Numemon's on the Island. Stepping back from his handiwork, Karatenmon stared coldly at the cowering digimon before him, the stench from it enough to make him consider killing him just for that crime alone, still, he had a job to do, and he couldn't have the pleasure of killing this lowlife before he had complete that. "Black KingNumemon, I heard a rumor that there's a temple to a certain ancient Digimon god in your area of the Server Islands, tell me where it is and I shall grant you a quick death." Lifting his sword, he stared down at the covering digimon with cold ruthlessness shining from his eyes as he waited for an answer.

Tbc: The Past and The Present.

AN:  Well, it's another chapter of "A Lone Digi Destined." I hope it lived up to your hopes for it, if not, then I'm sorry. Now, hit the review button and leave your impression of it, and before you start screaming about pair ups, then I'm not really planning on doing any yet. For now, I'll simply settle for trying to explain why things are so different in this universe, and how it can be fixed in the next few chapters.

As for the spelling error, I ran the chapter through a spell checker, but it seemed to be a bit different from the one I normally use, so there may be a few slip ups here and there.


	3. Part III

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Summery: AU.

Quick note: Finally, I present the much-delayed chapter for this story, a delayed chapter due to 3 reasons. One: My computer died and took the 80% completed chapter with it. Two: I was left with a 45% completed draft to be rewritten. Three: I had a few problems thinking of how to get things to come out the way I wanted them too.

  
  
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A lone digi destined  
Part III  
Selection of Allies  
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Stopping in his tracks, Tai stared up at the sky above them, his eyes narrowing to better see through the glare of the crimson evening sky better, in the distance, the sound of running water could be hear, as well as several birds singing from a single tree. "Tailmon, are you sure we're still heading in the right direction?" it was simple question, but one he felt like asking for far to long.

Next to him, the white feline digimon snorted at the doubt in his partners voice, the very thought that they were going in the wrong direction was a great insult to him, still, he had to admit, it was a bit hard to say where they were headed since everything looked and smelled the same around here, but he wasn't going to tell his partner that, no way, he was the mon, and he didn't get lost. "Of course I'm sure, we're going west, can't you see the sinking sun over there, it means we're headed in the right direction."

Tai shot a quick look at the sun to their left and groaned loudly as one of the things he had learned early on in his school life popped up in his mind. "Tailmon, the sun sets in the west, and we have been going with our left side to it for the past 40 minutes." Shooting a glare at his digimon partner, he lifted up his D3 and stared at it, hoping that somehow it came complete with a map telling him where to go programmed into it, as it was, all he got was a black screen with a series of green lines running in a grid over it. "Nothing, that means we're lost, and with no food to boot." Tai complained as his stomach rumbled out a protest loudly.

Besides him, Tailmon had the decency to at least look slightly embarrassed as he sat down, his tail moving from side to side as he took in a good feel of the area around them. "Hey Tai, you mad at me." The question was blurted out as the digimon had his head turned towards the sound of running water. "I was the one who got us lost."

Looking down at his partner, Tai grinned as he ignored the pain of his empty stomach and its demand to be filled as he pulled his Tailmon into a crushing hug. "Aw, I could never hate my whittle Tailmon." petting the struggling white digimon on the head as he smiled, he grinned at the rather loud protest coming from it.

Pushing the hands holding him away at last, Tailmon rushed out of the hold and jumped down to land on the ground before his partner, his fur standing on his back and tail, the sight sending his partner into another fit of laughter. "Haha, very funny." Licking his fur and trying to hide his annoyance at getting rubbed like a small kitten, he returned to staring darkly out over the landscape. "So, got any idea on where we go from here?"

Tai sighed as he lifted up his D3 gently, hitting the button that opened up the clock function on it, the green numbers flashed over the screen and was followed by a groan form Tai as he dropped down to lie on the ground as well. "Mom's going to kill me, we've been here for more then five hours, I was supposed to have been home ages ago." Turning his head to stare at his own partner lying on the ground, he smiled at the cute scene it made. "I guess all we can do is go home for now, we can try again tomorrow."

Grinning as he stood up, Tailmon nodded as he seconded the idea, the thought of a nice nap and a good meal was also starting to sound good to him as well. "Let's go."

Standing Tai turned around and then gave a loud sigh as he lowered his digivice back down again, as another thing became clear to him. "Um Tailmon." His digimon partner looked up in confusion at the rather sheepish way he had spoken. "Do you know where the nearest TV set is?"

Tailmon's happy thoughts of eating and sleeping suddenly vanished as fast as they had come at the simple question, the fact that they would need a TV set to leave the digital world hadn't even occurred to him. "Ah no."

Tai nodded as he returned the digivice to its place at his belt. "So we're still lost huh?"

"Shut up."

Laughter filled the area as the brown haired boy and his digimon began to walk once more.

Tailmon chuckled a bit and then looked up at Tai in a serious manner. "Let's check out the sound of running water, maybe we can find something to eat, or a TV set."

Tai grinned as he pattered his growling stomach. "I second that."

Hours later found a very content human and his digimon partner leaning on a tree, the remains of several fish lying on the ground next to a small vamp fire. "This is the life eh Tailmon." Tai mumbled as he used a fishbone to clean his teeth with, his eyes going over the star filled sky above them. "Just you, me and the whole digital world and a lifetime of adventures."

Tailmon nodded in agreement as he let out a small burp, his face showing just how much he had enjoyed their fish dinner, his tail moving down to curl around him as he began to doze off. "Yeah, I wouldn't give up this for anything." Closing his eyes, he managed to hot a quick look towards his partner in order to see what he was doing. Finding him still gazing up on the stars above, he smiled and allowed himself to drift off into a well deserved sleep. "Night Taichi."

Smiling back at his digimon, Tai smiled as he saw the content look on his face. "Night Tailmon." Then he returned to gazing up into the sky, his mind drifting off into the more unhappy parts of his memory, the ones he didn't want to think off. "Kari... Sora... both of you changed because of this world, will I change as well?" Smiling a bit to himself at his question, Tai dropped his head down on the ground and stared up into the star filled night. "I don't know what to think anymore Sora, we were so close, best friends, we thought nothing could break our friendship. And yet, something did, this world." Silence filled the camp as Tai continued his quiet watch of the night sky. Listening to the low purring sound coming from his partner.

In the distance, a pair of eyes stared down at him form the sky, a puzzled look on the larges bird type Digimon's face. Her eyes could clearly see one human sitting at a campfire, but it was also rather confusion as this one wasn't one of the kids she knew. Resolving to speak with Sora as soon as she could, Birddramon continued her track southward, scanning for control towers or other signs of the Digimon Kaiser in her area.

On the ground, Tai blinked as something briefly covered the moon, then vanished towards the south. Pulling out a small telescope, he spotted the outline of a large bird like digimon flying through the night sky in a direction somewhat similar to the one he had been following all day.

In the sky, Birddramon dismissed the thought and focused on getting out of the area, hoping that she could live up to her promise to Sora and continued protecting the area and digimons from the Digimon Emperor, still, maybe she should at least mention to the others that she had spotted someone camping in the digital world.

Lowering the telescope as soon as he couldn't see it anymore, Tai slowly turned the small thing around in his hands as he thought about what he had just seen. "Wonder what that was, didn't looked evil though. Then again, have I ever met a digimon that wasn't out to get me in anyway yet?" Settling back to relax a bit as he pushed the dark thoughts aside, he turned his telescope back up to stare at the stars glittering in the digital sky above him.

At the same time as Birddramon had flown over by Tai's camp, someone else had made their way though the night sky, passing the camp as well, but in a different direction then Birddramon had. But unlike the bird like digimon, these two were headed in the same direction as Tai.

"Flymon. Did you see that?" A voice spoke as curios eyes turned away from staring at the ground far below them, to stare at the massive digital wasp like digimon flying through the air. "It looked like a camp fire."

Flymon didn't answer right away as the digimon had to concentrate on flying through the cloudless night sky, something he was not very happy about doing. "I'm afraid not, but if you want me too, I can turn around and take a look at it." He spoke in a kind voice as he slowed down his flight speed a bit.

Silence ranged for a bit before a loud sigh could be heard. "I want too, but we can't." a small light shimmered into view as a hand unclenched, a shimmering triangle like gold plate lying in the center of the open hand. "We have to find a way out of this world, I can't stay here like this for much longer."

Flymon didn't reply or protest to the statement. Instead, he just proceed to return to his former flight speed, his insect like eyes continuing to scout for anything that could harm them as they flew across the night sky.

------------------------

In the real world, someone else was having a hard time sleeping as well, her brown eyes staring up at the white colored ceiling above her as her mind went through a hundred different paths every second, only to stop at one thought in the end. "Gatomon?" Getting no answer but feeling her digimon was listing to her anyway, Kari continued her talking. "You think, something has happened to Tai? He hasn't come home yet, and he didn't call either."

On her sleeping spot next to her partner, Gatomon tried to close her eyes and return to sleep, but her thoughts kept coming back to the concern her partner had for her brother, the strange digimon she had been smelling around the apartment lately, yet never seeing. "I don't know Kari, but I'm sure he's fine."

Rolling over to look into the glowing eyes of her partner, Karri reached out a hand and started to rub the ears for comfort. "Still, why do you think he been changing lately, he's more open and less angry." Closing her eyes a bit, she smiled as she finally felt sleep coming to her and with it, the rest she needed. "He's reminding me of the way he was, before the digital world."

Gatomon closed her eyes and wondered over the fact herself, she had been forced to either hide in the backpack around the house or under the bed when she was in the real world, her partners fear that her brother would be lost to her completely if he ever saw a reminder of the day he lost his friendship with both Kari and Sora. {How, how do I tell her that her brother might be talking with a digimon, or even, working with it} Eyes closing, the last thought she had wasn't as nice as her dreams would be. {He might even be the Digimon Kaiser.}

Both of them slowly looked up as loud beeping filled the room, Turning to the side, they glared down at the book bag on the floor, the sound coming from it. "Great, who would mail us at this time of the night." Stepping out of the lower bunk bed and walking over to retrieve her bag, she stared down at Gatomon with a apologetic look as the feline digimon snorted. "I'll look it and tell whoever sent it that we're sleeping okay."

Pulling out her D-terminal, she flipped over the lid on it and pulled up the new e-mail, her eyes briefly scanning whom it was from before she clicked on it. "Don't you ever sleep Izzy." Scanning over the lines, she nearly dropped her D-terminal when she finished reading it, her eyes turning to stare at the computer in her room. "No way, Gatomon, Tai's in the digital World."

Opening her eyes as she heard Kari call her, Gatomon stared up at Kari with a puzzled look, her eyes becoming even more puzzled as she spotted her pulling out her clothes. "What are you doing?" Asking nervously, the white feline digimon jumped down from the bad and walked up to stare more closely at her partner. "You can't go after him now."

Turning to look at her partner, Kari's eyes flashed in anger as she shot a dark glare at the white feline. "If Tai's in the digital world, then I'm going in after him." Having gotten her shorts on, Kari turned and fished out her pink shirt and digivice. "And no one going to stop me."

"Except you mom." Gatomon pointed out as she jumped back down onto the floor freezing as she could hear a hand grab onto the door handle. "What are you waiting for, hide." The feline like digimon hissed out as she started to move forward, but stopped when it became clear that there wasn't time to hide.

At her digimon partner's words, Kari all but jumped back into the bed, pulling the covers up over her and pretending to be asleep as the door cracked open and her mother stuck her head inside. "Honey, Tai's still not in here, do you think we should call the police?"

Sitting up as the door closed, Kari breathed out in relief, only to stop, as she became a where of what her mother had said about Tai and the police. "Great, if we don't find Tai and get him back home right now, the police will be looking for him, not to mention Mom and Dad will be freaking out at us."

Gatomon, jumping up in front of the computer, put out her gloved paw and looked up at Kari as she resumed putting on her shirt. "And do you think it will be any better of your parents find you missing as well?" Seeing the angry expression on Kari's Face, Gatomon sighed as she jumped down onto the floor. "Look, your brothers in the digital world, which means he a digi destined, and that also means he has a digimon."

"So." Kari countered as she reached down and grabbed her D-terminal and digivice from their places. "Tai's never been in the digital world before, he might need help or something."

"Kari, are you awake?"

Spinning around and staring at the door, Kari once again dove into her bed, pulling the covers up and pretending to be asleep as the door opened and her mother stuck her head in to look at her. "Kari?" Silence filled the room for a few moments as her mother walked in and sat down next to the bed. "Guess she's still asleep."

Feeling a hand stroking her hair, Kari nearly twisted to the side to get away, when she remembered that she was supposed to be asleep. And that meant she had to lie still and maintain a slow and steady breathing, even if it meant making her feel so sleepy.

On the ground, Gatomon grumbled as she found herself sitting in the most uncomfortable position so far, on foot tucked in under her while her arms were spread out to the side, and to top it off, she could hear her partner fall asleep in a nice comfy bed, with her mother keeping her company, which also meant she had to remain lying on the ground like this for a rather long time.

Oh yeah, Gatomon thought a good ten minutes later as Kari's mother finally stood up from her place next to the bed. That puffy haired boy was really going to get it from her, if her body didn't get deleted from the massive cramp going through it, or the foot about to hit her.

"Did you hear something?" Kari's mother asked, as she looked at her husband standing in the main hallway, moving her foot away from the back of her daughters stuffed toy. His eyes turning to stare at her when she exited the room, stepping on the stuffed toys tail as she turned around. "No, guess it means it wasn't Tai trying to sneak in."

Shaking his head as he walked over to hold her, his eyes narrowed as he looked into the bedroom. "You better be okay Taichi, and with a very good excuse for this." Tai and Kari's father mumbled out as he walked his wife back towards their bedroom.

Inside Tai and Kari's bedroom, Gatomon hissed as she pushed herself up from the ground. Her eyes rather big and watery as she turned to stroke her poor tail, which was now sporting a large bruise near the middle of it. "Oh yeah Tai, we will be talking about this." She mumbled to herself as she jumped up onto Kari's part of the bunk bed.

------------------------

Besides Kari and Gatomon, and several other people living in Tokyo, one other kid where also having trouble falling asleep that night. But unlike Kari, these one had a very different reason for it as he faced with the worst thing ever known to him or a lot of other kids.

Sitting calmly at his desk in the somewhat large bedroom, a blond haired boy were currently swearing rather loudly in English as he scribbled down an answer on a piece of paper, one eyes going form it to the book lying open next to him on the somewhat clean desk.

Grumbling as he struggled to make his way through the textbook before him, Michael gladly admitted math had been bad enough to do back home in America, but now he had to deal with it in another langue as well as the difficulty of it all. "Man, I should have told my dad to just get me a baby sitter or to drop me off with Uncle O'Neill like usually, but nooo, I had to come see this part of the world." Slamming the book shut, Michael leaned back in his chair as he grumbled over the unfairness of it all and why everyone couldn't just speak English like him.

Outside his room, his father laughed as he looked up from his newspaper, the comics' side getting closed as he shook his head. "Michael, go to bed already, we both have to be up early tomorrow remember?" Walking down the hallway, he knocked on the door to his son's bedroom and grinned as he got the usual "yeah, yeah" comment from the other side of it. "Hey, if you do it now without complaints, I will get you your favorite breakfast tomorrow."

Michael grumbled a bit as he walked over to his bed, reaching up a hand to put out the bedside lamp as he curled up under the covers, shooting a brief thought towards getting some help for his homework, or at least with the translation of the assignments themselves. "Night dad, see you tomorrow." Calling out the words, he smile dot himself as he got a faint reply from his dad.

Turning over in his bed, he suddenly opened his eyes as a cold feeling ran down his back, the feeling of someone looking at him slowly making his sweat. "Okay, if that's you dad, it isn't funny." Rolling over in his bed to stare out into his room, he reached up a hand to turn on the light, barely getting a hold of the light switch when he felt someone grab his hand and cover both the button and his hand at the same time. "Dad, stop it!"

"No can do kid, and I am not your father." A woman's voice spoke out in a slightly mocking manner as he felt himself get lifted up from the bed by his chest. "Now that I finally found you, you can't just expect me to leave can you?" At her last word, the light in the room finally turned as he hit the button.

Closing his eyes as the sudden brightness filled the room, Michael hissed a bit as he hand was roughly pulled away from the light switch. Then he reopened his eyes and felt a scream work it's way up his throat at the sight of the woman holding him above his bed.

For starters, she wore a large pointed hat on her head with a small cat motif hanging around the lower part of it, that as well as the rest of her clothes mad her look lie a witch. Her mouth and eyes had a heavy amount of black makeup making her look slightly gothic, even without the smile she was giving him. But what scared him the most was the large inhuman hand holding him up over the bed, the other one covering his mouth to prevent him form screaming.

As he calmed own a bit, he felt the hand slowly removed as the woman turned and began to drag him over towards the computer in the room. "Who are you? What are you?" He gasped out as he watched her wave her hand in front of the screen. Pulling out a light blue sphere from it. "Are you... a monster?" The question sounded stupid to him, but somehow, he felt that it was closer to the truth then it should be.

Holding up the sphere towards the blond haired boy, the woman smiled as the sphere shot out of her hand and down into Michael's free hand, morphing a bit before it turned into a D3 that beeped a bit. "Name's Witchmon kid." She spoke as she dropped him down on the ground. "And yes, I am a monster, a digital monster or digimon for short." smirking at Michael's silence after her little talk, she gave him a light push towards the computer as she stepped back herself. "And you have been chosen by my master to help save the Server Islands and all of the digimons living there."

Finally giving a loud scream, Michael felt the object in his left hand begin to beep even louder as a white light washed over him. A sense of weightlessness following as he fell backwards into the light.

A few precious seconds later, his father almost tore the door free from it's hinges as he rushed into the room, eyes widening as all he could see were a few traces of struggle and a computer beeping madly as a program on it shut down. "Michael, Michael?"

Landing with a loud bump, Michael took the time to grit his teeth as his left knee protested against the somewhat soft landing in the wet sand. Soft landing except for the single stone having somehow been placed right where his knee would hit when he landed.

As the pain began to dull into a somewhat mild throbbing, the blond haired boy rolled over and began to examine what he could see and hear around him. Star filled sky above him, a few clouds blocking out the stars and the sound of water rushing onto a beach nearby. It all finished off with a mild breeze making a few leaves move on the palm trees nearby.

All in all, it added up to a very bad way of waking up for the blond haired boy. Mostly since his clothes were starting to become damp from the wet sand under him. "Okay, what the heck happened, who was hat lady and where the..." Tailing off his rant, Michael froze halfway through rising up as his eyes fell onto what he had not really expected to see. "A tropical beach?"  
  
Stepping further down towards the water as he dared, the blond haired boy kept on casting a curious look in every direction he could. Taking note of the face that beach seemed to turn into a savanna not more then 200 meters from the water something he could only see as moon light filtered down as a cloud moved out of its way. "Great, a beach in the middle of nowhere."

Returning his vision to the water, Michael gave a loud sign as he stared at it. The lack of light to see by never really gave him any hints as too where he was, all he could really figure out were two things. First off he was on a beach, next to a savanna if the tall grass and spread out trees he had seen in the moonlight were any hints. "Maybe, I've been kidnapped, and that woman was just a sick dream like result of some kind of weird drug they used on me."

Smirking at his explanation, Michael stopped after a few seconds as every single hole in it became clear. "But, why leave me here, with no one to watch me." Looking down at the ground again, Michael blinked as his fingers brushed over the light blue pants and Hawaiian shirt over a very light sleeveless undershirt. "Okay, so someone kidnapped me, put me into a vacation outfit and left me in the middle of no where." Looking rather hopeless as a bit of laughter came from him, Michael simply took four steps backwards and sat down in the sand again. "Okay, that just doesn't make any sense."

Still thinking rather loudly, the blond haired boy failed to notice the single pair of eyes looking at him from the edge of the ocean. "Okay, so if I'm not kidnapped, what am I then?" Stepping out of the water as the blond haired boy dropped back down to rest of the sand while talking, a big grin formed on the creatures head.

"Think Michael, think." Muttering the same words over and over again, the blond haired boy shivered a bit as a wind passed by them. "Okay, I got it. This is just a strange dream brought out by too much homework in another langue."

"What's homework?"

Freezing as the voice registered, Michael, still lying down, almost gave himself a whiplash as he turned his head to the side, frowning as the wet sand got stuck in his hair. "Who are....you?" Seeing nothing but the beach, Michael got a small tick to his left eyes as he began to wonder if he had gone insane, then he began to look downward as a small shuffling sound became clear.

"Hiya!"

Michael eyes grew rather big as he took in the creature looking a thim, The thing having a sort of appearance in the middle of a cross between a toad and a shark. Four legs with toad like feet at then end of them, a streamline body like that of a shark from the head to the end, and a fin sticking up from the back. "What the ¤%#& are you?"

Looking a bit taken back the question, the creature gave a hurt look as it lifted up a hand. "Betamon's the name, I'm a..."

"You can talk!" Cutting of Betamon's sentence, Michael began to back away from it. "Okay, whatever this dream is brought on by, I'm quitting it." Then his eyes narrowed, as he looked closer at Betamon. "You're not an alien are you, cause that's not what I need right now." The creature look at him in a very puzzled way as it still out a front leg for him to shake in a greeting. "You know kidnapped by beings from outer space that wants to suck out my brains and all."

Staring at the human boy as he continued to ramble on about aliens and kidnappings, Betamon closed his eyes in embarrassment over the boy's behavior. "Will you listen to me!?" Betamon roared out as he jumped up on Michael chest as it became too much for him. "Like I said, I'm Betamon, I'm a digital monster, digimon for short and I'm your digimon partner"

Blinking his eyes, Michael lifted up a hand, and then lowered it a bit as he got a doubtful look on his face. "Come again."

Betamon froze at the strange sentence and stared at his partner with a look of complete puzzlement. "What?"

"Huh?" Michael had the same look as he pushed a bit of sand caked hair out of his face. "Well for starters, what's a digimon? And more importantly, where am I?"

"Well." Betamon began, as he got comfortable on the ground. Going into a rather long talk about digimons, the digital world and what he was.

After it ended, Michael had moved away form the wet sand and gotten his hair somewhat clean again, his eyes looking out at the sea as the sun began to move e. "So, you're my partner, and together we have a mission to complete."

Looking rather pleased so far, Betamon nodded as he jumped over to sit next to his partner. "I remember it clearly, I was to wait here until my partner showed up, and together we would defeat someone evil and..."

Michael reached out a hand and cut off his digimon partner in mid talk. "What do you mean someone evil, you know who we have to defeat right?"

"Well." Betamon began as an embarrassed look crossed his face. "I kind of forgot, it was so long ago, and I wasn't really paying attention when they told me about it."

"Oh boy." Michael muttered out as he dropped his head into his hands. Trust him to get a partner with the mind and attention span of a five year. "So, now what. I hope you at least know where we're should go to fight this evil?"

"Um." Betamon began as he looked away. "We can't leave yet, we have to find the others. Only together with them can we defeat this evil."

Michael grinned as he stood up, brushing the sand from his pants. "Okay, we got a lead on what to do then. So, where can we find the others?"

Betamon gave the best impression of a shrug he could as he looked up at his partner.

Feeling just about ready to cry at that point, Michael settled for staring out over the savanna behind them. "Okay, first things first. We need food, shelter and a phone so we can contact someone."

Betamon looked puzzled after the human boy as he stood up and began to walk away. "What's a phone?" Jumping after his partner, the digimon looked a bit more puzzled before he gave a small sigh. "Michael, maybe we shouldn't move around in the dark, there are bad digimons out there."

Freezing in mid step, Michael turned his head and looked down at his partner with big eyes. "Bad digimons, you mean, more creatures like you?"

"Well yes and no." Betamon replied as he stopped next to his partner, his eyes looking out at the tall grass rising up from the ground in front of them. "Most champion level digimons are bigger then you, but I never really saw that many of them."

"Bigger then me?" Michael mumbled out as he looked out over the dark area. "Okay, new plan, we're going to stay here until tomorrow." Turning and walking over to a tree, Michael grinned as he dropped down to rest under it. "Now, all we need is a campfire and I can pretend it's a vacation after all."

"What's a campfire?"

Michael sighed as his head dropped forward over the question. "Great, why do I feel like this won't as fun a dream as I thought it would be?"

Betamon stared up at his partner as the human boy began to explain what a bon fire was and how one made it, his eyes growing big at each word. "Oh, so you set things on fire and rest next to them to keep warm huh?" Smiling at the words, the digimon turned around and began to hop around on the beach.

Still leaning on the tree, Michael sighed as he stuffed his hands into his pockets for some kind of warmth, despite having all the looks of a tropical beach, it was far from being as warm as he had been told they were. Leaning back his head and closing his eye, Michael grumbled a bit as he curled up for what would be a very uncomfortable night.

"Electro Shocker!"

Sitting up with a cry of shock, Michael jumped back as a shower of electricity shot form hsi digimon into a small hole next to him with a loud humming sound. "What are you doing?" Even as he yelled out, Betamon landed on the ground as a trail of smoke raised up from the hole before a small fire began to crackle. "Fire?" Looking at his proud looking digimon, he shook his head. "Betamon, next time, give me a warning before you try something like that again okay?"

Betamon jumped around to the spot next to Michael and grinned up at him. "I will, don't worry about it." Lying down to sleep, the digimon smiled up at the blond haired boy. "Do you like it?"

"Yes." Michael answered as he lay back down again, a bit more comfortable this time as the fire kept him warm. "See you tomorrow Betamon."

------------------------

Tai opened his eyes wide and looked up into the morning sky, his back telling just what it thought of sleeping on the ground in a very painful manner as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, the movement of his body sounding like someone stepped on a pile of corn flakes. "Tailmon?" Looking around the campsite they had camped out in for the night, he frowned when he couldn't see his digimon partner anywhere. "Tailmon?"

"Tai, come on, you got to see this."

Turning around in the direction of the cry, Tai slowly stood up and began to limper over to his partner, the movement of his walk sending needles up and down his back as the muscles protested against moving so soon after waking up from a rather harsh sleep. "What is it, Tailmon?" Stepping up over the small hill, he stopped at what he saw on the other side surprised him, a large line of zebra like digimons were walking around the grass filled digital savanna below, each of then had a metal mask with a red visor and a large metal horn on their heads. "Tailmon?"

Looking up with a big smile on his face, the feline digimon smiled up at him as he began to run down the hill towards the digimons in a hurry. "Come on Tai, they want to talk with you." Shooting a look back at his partner, he smiled when he watched the boy rushing down towards him.

Walking past the first few of the digimons, Tai nervously smiled when they looked up at him in a somewhat curious way, before returning to eating the grass before them, turning away from a rather large one, he stopped when he noticed Tailmon a good up ahead of him. "Hey, wait up Tailmon."

Stopping, Tailmon smiled as his partner finally caught up with him. "What do you think of them." the question was asked a glove covered paw moved out to in a wide arc. "neat huh."

Tai smiled as he looked at the digimons eating, walking or simply resting around them. The sight was something he hadn't expected to find in the digital world. "Very neat, kind of reminds me of some of the nature programs back home." Shooting a quick look down at his patent, he reached down and slowly picked him up. "But what are we doing here."

Tailmon smiled as he pulled a paw free and pointed towards one of the digimon lying on the ground, the head of the digimon regarding them from it was lying. "Come on, I told them about us and where we needed to go, and they say they can help us." Dragging his partner close by the pant's leg, the feline digimon stopped right in front of the digimon. "I'm back, and this is my partner I was telling you about."

Lifting the head, the digimon looked closer at Tai and then smiled, a rather strange thing to see on a horse like digimon. "So, this is your human partner, have to admit I didn't think he existed." The digimon spoke in a rather low, yet clearly accented voice as it stood up to its full height. "Welcome human, to the Shimaunimons migration to the western parts of Server."

Smiling a bit at having met another friendly digimon that didn't want to fight jut because they had entered his or hers domain. Tai slowly nodded as he looked around the herd of digimons. "Thanks."

Smiling a bit as he rose up from the ground. Shimaunimon walked over to look down at Tai. "So, I hear you need to get to Lake Destiny in a hurry?"

Tai, not sure what to say, looked up at the digimon as he gave another smile at it. "Yes, we were told we could find Babamon living nearby."

Shimaunimon gave his best impression of a grin as he looked around the herd starting to become more restless with each passing moment. "Well, we may be able to help you with that."

Looking a bit puzzled at the words, Tailmon and Tai shared a look as Shimaunimon stood up.

"Yahoo!!"

The Shimaunimon caring Tai and Tailmon gave a cry of it's own as it made another jump, taking pride in feeling the joy and excitement coming from it's passengers. "Hang on, we'll be at Lake Destiny in 3 hours minimum." He cried out as two other Shimaunimons passed by, as well as the leader of the Herd, a grin on his face as he gave a quick look.

Tai, looking over at Shimaunimon from where he was clinging to the other one, smiled as he felt the Zebra like digimon sprint even faster across the ground. "Thanks for the lift, I just don't know to repay you!"

Shimaunimon moved closer and adjusted his pace to match the others as he listen to what Tai was yelling to him. "Don't worry about it, you can repay me by looking in on Babamon, rumor's has it something has happened to her." Seeing Tailmon giving him a curios glance, he snorted a bit. "I would love to do it myself, but I have to lead the herd to the next grassing field."

Tailmon, huffed a bit as the Zebra like digimon speed off to run in the front of the whole herd. "Well, he could have told us that a bit sooner." Looking down at Tai who seemed to be deep in thought, Tailmon leaned in closer. "Tai, what do you think he meant with that?"

Not looking back at his Partner, Tai focused on making sure he wasn't going to fall of the Shimaunimon, as well as thinking about the new information the lead Shimaunimon had given him. "I'm not sure, but that Tentomon told us Babamon knew about the Server Islands, and that means she must know about Karatenmon as well."

"You think she was?" Tailmon asked as he got a concerned look on his face.

Not answering right away, Tai settled for holding onto the Shimaunimon. "Could be, Karatenmon wants me dead, he put that poison in me remember?" Seeing Tailmon's concerned look aimed at him instead, Tai gave a soft smile as he tried to get the cat like digimon to calm down. "I'll be fine, we'll defeat that bird brain before the year is over, and remember Babamon could know how to do that."

Tailmon nodded as well as he could while trying to hold on. "I hope so."

"Me too." Tai mumbled out as he watched the ground move past them below.

------------------------

Landing in the digital world in the normal calm manner, the new team of Digi destined turned to face the two older kids standing behind them with a questioning look on their faces, it wasn't often that more then one of them came into the digital with them at the same time, but today it was needed for them to come. "So, are you two going to try and find him while we destroy the control tower??" Kari asked as she held Gatomon close to her in a hug as she spoke.

Izzy looked up from his trusted laptop and nodded, his eyes turning to scan the horizon for his trusted digimon partner. "Yes, I for one would like to know why he hasn't shown himself or talked with us about this." Voice full of his curiosity as he spoke, the computer wiz began to walk towards the last place he had heard from Tentomon.

Behind them, the second one of the older DD's snorted as she stepped away from the group, her opinion of the boy still hadn't improved one bit since their first somewhat real meeting. "I still can't believe he's one of us, a Digi destined." Her voice was low, but still managed to reach the younger girl's ears standing up in front of them.

Spinning around and glaring at the pink haired girl, Kari clenched her hand and shot a dark look at Mimi. "What is your problem Mimi?" Eyes flashing, the younger girl stepped over to glare at the older one with no concern to the shocked gasps from around her. "You haven't done anything but complain over him every chance you get."

Returning the glare with one just as ice cold as Kari's. Mimi crossed her arms over her chest and snorted. "Maybe if he wasn't always such a jerk, I might be able to stand actually him." The anger dripped from Mimi's voice as she turned her back on Kari, the pink haired nearly hitting the younger girl in the process.

Biting back a rather nasty and hurtful response about the pink haired girl and some of her friends and family members, Kari settled for shooting a dark look at her back as she fired off her own remaining verbal attack. "Did it ever occur to you that he acts like a jerk towards you, because you never have anything nice to say about him?" Voice dripping with her annoyance, she didn't wait for an answer but simple turned to walk away. "Come on, you need to find Ken while me and Izzy will look for Tai okay?"

Nodding, Yolie and Cody began to walk towards the control tower, their faces showing a lot of puzzlement over the event that had just taken place. Still standing behind them, Davis looked at TK with a questioning look on his face. "Well, you coming TF?" Turning to walk, he blinked when he felt TK grab his arm and pull him back. "Hey, now what?"

Looking after Kari and the other four a brief second, he turned to face Davis with very serious look on his face. "Look, I think I'll go with Kari, Izzy and Mimi." At the puzzled and very jealous look on Davis face, he narrowed his eyes and stepped even closer to him. "This area was taken over by Ken last night, so it wouldn't do to have them run around without more then one digimon to fight against him."

Nodding in understanding, Davis pulled his shoulder free and stared back at TK with the same look of determination in his eyes as he pulled out his D-terminal and D3, understanding the hidden message from the blond haired boy. "Okay, I'll look after the others then, and you keep an eye on Kari for the both of us in this, but once you get back..." Leaving the sentence unfinished, Davis stepped away from TK and turned around. "Mail us when something happens or if you find him okay."

Stepping back as their small conversation was over, TK gave a quick nod with his head. "Count on it, and I expect you to do the same as well Davis."

"Okay." Kari nearly yelled as she pulled out her D3 and pointed it at her feline like digimon. "Digi Armor Energize!"

Gatomon glowed bright white as the digimental of light flew into her. "Gatomon Armor digiovle too... Nefertimon, Angel of Light!" Landing on the ground, the sphinx like digimon looked at Kari standing next to her.

Next to her, TK pulled out his D3 as well, looking at Patamon hovering in the air above him, he nodded as he held his digivice out towards him. "Digi Armor Energize."

Glowing white just like Gatomon had as the digimental of Hope fused with him, Patamon flew up into the air. "Patamon Armor Digivolve too... Pegasusmon, The flying hope." Landing on the ground next to TK, the horse looked at his partner as the blond haired boy stepped closer.

"Okay." TK started as he turned to look at the rest of the group around him. His eyes landing on Kari and Mimi who stood a good apart form one another. "I think Mimi should ride on Pegasusmon along with Palmon and Tentomon, me, Kari and Izzy will stay on Nerfertimon."

Mimi gave a hmphing sound as she walked past the blond haired boy and settled onto Pegasusmon back, making sure that Palmon were settled in perfectly in front of her before she turned to stare at the rest of them. "Fine, but as soon as we get back, I'm going back home."

TK sighed as he briefly wondered if this was how his brother and Davis felt when they had to lead the group around, cause if it was, they could keep the job as far as he cared. "Whatever, let's just go already."

On Nefertimon's back, Izzy and Kari as well as TK settled down at the very back on the sphinx like digimon as he placed his digivice back onto his belt. "Okay, let's get going."

------------------------

Smoke moved into the air in a lazy fashion as Karatenmon stared at the ruined village below him, a few digimon slaves being lead through the village by his faithful army. A sight, which had him grinning, but it was another thing that really mattered the most to him at the moment. "Hyogamon, is the temple secured?"

The blue colored Ogremon like digimon bowered to his master as he stepped up to him. "It is my lord, the temple guardian offered little resistance to out forces." Looking down at the village as well, the ice type digimon grinned a bit. "With this under our control, the Island of Earth has fallen completely."

"Yes." Karatenmon replied as he turned to walk past his general, his wings shuffling a bit as he stopped to stare at the white colored temple building behind him. "The forest kingdoms have fallen, the Temple of Earth is under my control and I already have the key from the temple of Air and complete dominance over the Northern Island."

Grinning as well at the words, Hyogamon turned around and began to follow after his master. "My lord, will we be invading the Island of Fire next?" Holding onto his cross-shaped club of ice, the ogre like digimon waited for an answer to his question.

"No, The temple of fire on that island was plundered by a special servant of mine yesterday, and as such, we only need to secure one more temple, the one on the Island of water." Smirking a bit as he grinned, Karatenmon shut a look up at the large doors before him as he stepped into the front room of the temple. "Hyogamon, go join Fuugamon in running up the last of our my new slaves."

Bowing at the words, Hyogamon slipped his club up onto his shoulder. "At once my lord." Turning around ad running from the room, Hyogamon turned to face the village and began to run a bite faster then before as his eyes narrowed at the sight of a few digimons trying to hide behidn a building. "Well, well, guess Fuugamon left something for me to do after all."

Ignoring the salutes and bows from his troops inside the main room of them temple, the bird man like digimon calmly walked through the rubble filled part off it, taking in the sight of the finely engraved pillars and paintings on the walls around him that hadn't been destroyed in the battle. "Worthless, they worship a digimon of great power and strength, yet it didn't even come to protect them when they needed it."

Reaching the backend of the room, his eyes lowered until they stared at the simple looking metal floating in the air floating above a small marble pillar, the whole thing set on the ground before a much larger statue of the digimon worshipped in the temple. "Yes, my lord will be pleases with this, and so will I."

Picking it up, Karatenmon froze as he turned his head to the side, his eyes glazing over as he almost looked like he was listing to someone talking nearby. "What do you mean she ran off? She has the third key, you idiot." Hissing loudly as he fully turned to look at the broken doorway, Karatenmon clenched his free hand. "Fool, return to my castle at once, I will deal with you later."

Holding the key loosely in one hand, the bird man like digimon turned around and closed his eyes as he reached out again to one of his most used servants "Gorillamon, I decided to take you off the Tailmon brat case for a moment, Masyamon failed in obtaining the key from the fire temple, seems he lost it to a human girl of all things. Find her, kill her and bring the key to me."

Feeling Gorillamon dragging away from his mind, Karatenmon snorted as he stepped out the door and into a scene of pure carnage, a ruined hallway leading out to a wide-open area with a ruined village in it. "First Babamon, now this girl who dared to steal a key from a temple before you could get it." A feeling of hate filled the air as Karatenmon began to lift off from the ground. "And the child with the Tailmon, still haven't been stopped. Perhaps, it's time to leave the job of killing him to someone else."

Smirking as he flew off, Karatenmon laughed darkly as his troops began to follow him, the survivors of his attack forced to watch the remains of the village as they were dragged away to a dark future of slavery.

Reaching a height that he liked, the birdman like digimon began to head in a northern direction, his thoughts going over the few members of his army that might be able to stand up to the strength of Tailmon and his armor form. Now that he had taken Gorillamon off that case, he would need to send someone out to finish it. "Masyamon, my loyal servant, Redeem yourself by finding the digi destined brat who had trouble me for so long, and kill him."

Flickering a bit in the air, a shadowy outline of a digimon dressed like a samurai kneeled as it lifted up a sword before it's head. "It shall be as you wish my lord, I will not fail you in this mission." Then the shadowy outline fade away again as Karatenmon nodded, his yellow eyes closing a bit as he thought about the future plans he had to take in order to secure his complete control of everything on the islands.

Flying up right behind him, two more of the incest like digimon fell into a side by side formation as two ogre like digimon looked at the ultimate virus digimon as the both lifted up a club like item to rest on their shoulders. "Lord Karatenmon, I strongly feel it would be better if you left the job up to us. "

Karatenmon hissed as he heard the complaint from his best generals and leaders of his army. "Silence." Moving around to hover before them, his yellow eyes moved from one of them to the other one as she clenched his free hand. "Hyogamon, Fuugamon, you are both strong warriors, but this mission demands a use of stealth and cunning." Turning around and continuing on his flight, the Birdman like digimon closed his eyes and grinned. "Besides, you two have to make sure that the remaining Kingdom's of the Server Islands falls before me just as easily as the others have."

Not saying a word in defense, the two ogre like digimons slammed their free hand onto their chest. "As you command my lord, so just which one is next on our list?" Their voice were perfectly synched as they spoke.

Karatenmon's eyes flashed with joy as he chuckled darkly. "The sunken Kingdom, rumors have it the temple of water lies buried somewhere in the vast number water covered ruins in their little realm."

"It shall be as you wish!" Came the dual response from the two generals of his kingdom..

------------------------

The Shimaunimon slowed down to an almost silent walk as a rather large lake glinted in the distance, a forest forming in one direction as the Savanna zone ended a few hundred meters away form the side of the lake. "Here we are" spoke the Shimaunimon leader as he came down to them. "This is Lake Destiny"

Slowly slipping to the side, Tai neatly fell of the Shimaunimon who had carried him the whole way, to land on his butt on the ground. "Thanks." Standing when he was sure the ground would move, he gave a silly grin as he ignored Tailmon laughing from the back of the Shimaunimon. "So, Babamon's house is?"

"Over by the forest" The head Shimaunimon answered as he pointed his head in the direction of the forest. "You can't miss it, it's the only building in this place."

Tai nodded as he felt Tailmon jump up onto his shoulder. "Well, thanks again Shimaunimon." Seeing the zebra like digimons turning around and walking away, Tai turned his head around and began to walk towards the forest. "Let's just hope this Babamon is home."

Tailmon turned his to stare at Tai as he grinned. "I just hope she has something to eat."

"Tailmon, don't you ever think of anything but..." Tai started but stopped as they passed up over a small hill.

Tailmon frowned as Tai stopped talking as he looked straight ahead of them. Turning his own head, Tailmon felt his eyes narrow as he saw what Tai was staring at. "What the?" Jumping down from Tai's shoulder as the messy haired boy shook his head, Tailmon looked up at his partner to see his reaction.

Staring right ahead, Tai shook his head as he took in the sight of the rather ravaged looking ruin right in front of them, judging by the vines growing over the only complete wall still standing up, it had been a long time since anyone was there at all. "I really hope that's not Babamon's home" Tai stated as he began to walk forward again.

At his side, Tailmon was just as puzzled over the place they had ended up at, if this was the home of some wise and powerful digimon it could really do with a clean up and a PR guy. "Don't really know, but if you ask me, Babamon left a long time ago." Turning to look back at the plains behind them, he sighed loudly as he return his eyes to Tai. "Guess it was too much to hope that the Shimaunimons would have waited for us."

Shrugging, Tai gave a small grin at his partner as he began to walk forward. "Well, whatever happened here, we have at least gotten somewhere." Pushing aside a wine as he moved into the ruin, Tai looked around the inside of it. "May as well take a look around, who knows, maybe something got left behind."

Walking in behind Tai, Tailmon looked around the place, but being more careful to stay away from the rubble covered parts of it with a look of hesitation as he turned to one corner of the ruin. "Well, whoever this Babamon was, one things clear by now, great taste in art, is not his strong side."

Turning around at the comment, Tai narrowed his eyes as he saw his digimon partner staring at a small statue of an old lady like digimon with long hair standing in the corner of the ruin. "Leave it alone and keep looking for some clue as too where Babamon could have gone too okay." Returning to his task of lifting a half burnt wooden beam, Tai stopped when his eyes landed on a small object on the ground. "Huh?"

Moving away from the statue, Tailmon stopped and began to sniff the air, his nose picking up yp the faint smell of someone he had only crossed paths with once, but it was a smell he wouldn't forget right away. "Tai, Karatenmon was here recently." He hissed out as he began to move back towards his partner.

Not looking back at his partner, Tai slowly lifted up the object he had spotted before and stared at in puzzlement, the light glinting off the side of it. "Hey, Tailmon what do you think this is?" Asking his partner, Tai turned around and blinked when he noticed Tailmon's face was full of anger. "What is it?"

"Someone's here." The words were hissed out, as Tailmon kept moving slowly towards Taichi, his eyes moving from one part of the room to another. "Someone powerful, but I'm not sure who it could be."

Looking around the place, Tai suddenly gave a small shiver as he felt a cold wind pass by him, his eyes turning around to face whatever had cause it, only to find a large hole in the wall leading back towards the plains where they had come from. "I don't know Tailmon, there doesn't seem to be anyone here."

"Look out!"

Moving as fast as he could at the cry, Tailmon jumped up and knocked Tai over with all of his strength, giving a loud cry of pain as something gazed over his back and sent a spike of pain through him. "No one's here huh." he mumbled in a sarcastic manner as he spun around to face the air before him. "Show yourself you coward."

"As you wish."

Both Tai and Tailmon shivered at the voice, the sound of it coming rather close to someone rubbing a fork on a plate. Then they stared in muted shock and surprise as the air began to shimmer before them as an unnatural darkness seemed to seep out from the corners of the ruin and covered the entire place in twilight as a ragged looking piece of cloth with a large top hat formed before them. "A ghost!"

Giving a dark and booming laughter at the cry, the digimon slowly began to hover towards them, a hungry look passing over what would have been its face if the top hat hadn't covered everything but the mouth of it. "I am Soulmon, a ghost type digimon, my Necro Magic attack will be end of you all." Soulmon proclaimed as he began to move the part of his body that acted as his arms. "Lord Karatenmon ordered me to guard this place and keep anyone from reawaking the old crone."

Clenching his hand, Tai glared at the ghost digimon with a look of anger in them. "Karatenmon again." Looking down at his D3, his eyes turned from it to his digimon partner as a fire of determination lit up in him at the thought of losing another chance at finding his enemy's whereabouts. "Ready buddy?"

Nodding as he stepped forward, Tailmon gave a small grin up at the ghost digimon. "So, all I have to do is defeat you and Babamon will be free?"

Soulmon chuckled at the question and began to hover a bit up in the air. "No, as long as Lord Karatenmon lives, the curse on the old crone will never be lifted."

At the words, both Tai and Tailmon eyes narrowed in anger. "That bastard." Tai spat out as he lifted up his D-terminal and D3 in a rapid move. "I don't care who you are, but I won't let you or Karatenmon get away with something like that." Snapping open the D-terminal, the digimental of courage rushed out into the air. "Digi Armor Energize!"

Jumping up into the air, Tailmon glowed with raw power as he once again armor digivolved. "Tailmon Armor digivolve too... Lynxmon, the flames of courage!" Landing on the ground, Lynxmon wasted no time in rushing forward, the fire on his body whipping through the air with each move he made. "Thermal Mane!" Fire rushing out at the roar, Lynxmon grinned as Soulmon found his body covered in the blazing hot fire attack. "Got him." Then he stopped when he noticed Soulmon looking down at him. "Or not."

Floating backwards and grumbling at the sudden fire attack, Soulmon turned to stare at the armor digimon looking back up at him with a bit of doubt in those proud eyes. "You'll pay for that you little fire cracker." Moving his arms or what looked like arms into the air before him, Soulmon powered up an attack of his own. "Soul Cry!" Smacking his arms out as he opened his mouth, Soulmon let out an ear-shattering scream that had both Tai and Lynxmon screaming in pain as they dropped to the knees and finally completely down onto the ground. "And now, I finish you two off." Soulmon stated as he hovered as high up into the air as he dared.

Looking up as he struggled to recover from the pain in his head, Tai looked over at Lynxmon. The armor digimon was also struggling to recover from the attack and had almost gotten back on his feet, but he was still looking a bit shaken at the sonic attack they had been attacked with. "Lynxmon, go get him." Tai mumbled out as he began to force himself up.

Soulmon's laughter filled the ruin, as his hands trust out with a sick green glow around them. "Too late, Necro Magic." The attacks rushed through the air and smacked into Lynxmon head on, sending the armor digimon flying backwards and right into a wall that crumbled down over him. "Now, it ends."

"We have to help them."

"I don't know, I don't want you to get hurt."

"But... They need help."

"I... Okay, help them."

Soulmon grinned as he lashed out with his hands again, the green energy already forming into another Necro Magic attack, the top hat slightly off from the rapid movements of the ghost digimon. "Brown Stinger!" Turning around in a hurry, Soulmon barely managed to duck the attack, still, his hat was ripped off his head and nailed to the wall with a thick brown stinger.

Looking up in anger with the same dark glare of most ghost digimons, Soulmon growled as he spotted his attack flying around in a circle above him. "Who are you?"

"Flymon!"

The three digimons, Flymon, Soulmon and Lynxmon turned to stare at the source of the voice, trying harder to see whom it was when all they could see was the outline of a small person standing in the shadow of a tree. "He's my digimon." The voice spoke out with a bit of hesitation and fear, as if the person wasn't used to sounding confident and in control.

Souldmon growled as he began the rush towards the outlined person, his eyes narrowed in anger. "I don't really care, cause in a few minutes, you'll both be dead." Spit flying out of his mouth as he yelled, Soulmon focused completely on getting the person and the digimon.

"Thermal Mane!"

Screaming out in anger and frustration, Soulmon smashed into a nearby wall from the force off the fireball impacting with him in mid flight. "Now what?" Pushing himself off the cracked stone bricks, he stopped and glared at Lynxmon and Tai as they grinned at him. "You two, but you should both still be down by now."

Tai grinned as he pointed his finger at the ghost digimon in a mocking manner as they stepped forward. "Yeah, but maybe we're a bit tougher then you thought." Looking to side and seeing his partner back on his feet and fully recovered, Tai grin grew even bigger. "And this time, we won't be fooled by you little screaming trick."

Eyes and body nearly blazing with his anger, Soulmon launched into a series of curses as he formed a glowing ball of green light between his hands, the ball growing rapidly larger. "You'll all pay for this outrage, I won't let anyone one of you escape from here alive."

"Lynxmon!"

Rushing forward at his partners cry, the Flame covered tiger digimon jumped up into the air, his eyes glowing bright yellow as the fire covering him blazed wildly. "Wild Nine Rush!" And shot out in nine streams of fire, Each of them homing in on the ghost digimon screaming in anger and shock as they struck him, tearing through the white fabric of his body and reducing him to a cloud of digital data floating in the air.

On the ground, Tai gave a loud cheer as he looked up at the sight, for once; they had managed to defeat a digimon working for Karatenmon and not one of Gorillamon's many hunter digimons. "Way to go Lynxmon, you did it, and thanks to you too..." Turning to look in the direction of the Tree, Tai stopped when he noticed that the person was gone, along with Flymon. "Hey, where did they go?"

Glowing a bright white, Lynxmon shrunk down into Tailmon, the feline digimon rushing over to stand next to Tai in a protective manner as he continued to stare in the same direction. "They're gone." It almost sounded like a question, but was more of a statement that Tailmon made as he looked at the tree. "Well, maybe we'll meet them again."

Tai nodded as he turned around to look back at the ruin behind them, the place looked a lot less foreboding now that the evil surrounding it had been removed. "Guess we won't be able to ask Babamon where we can find Karatenmon." He stated as his eyes fell on the statue in the corner of the ruin.

Tailmon nodded as he jumped up on Tai's shoulder, settling in to stare straight ahead with a concerned look. "Yeah, but I can't help but feel that we're getting closer to him." the feline digimon said as he looked into the sky with a bit more happier look on his face as he felt Tai rub his ear. "Maybe, we should try and ask someone else for help on this."

Tai nodded absently as he began to walk towards the statue in the corner of the ruin, his eyes trained on the horizon as he fought back a sudden guilt streak over being away from home for so long . "Maybe, but right now, we need to see if Babamon is still alive."

Walking up to the statue, Tai kneeled down and stared at it, the eyes of the digimon looking right through him as he waved a hand up and down in front of it. "I don't know Tailmon, do you think we can bring her back again?"

"Maybe." Tailmon replied as he poked the lower part of the statue in curiosity, the claws on his gloves making a loud scratching sound as he dragged them down the dress part of the statue. "But really, Babamon is supposed to be a mega digimon, so how did an Ultimate level digimon like Karatenmon do this to her?"

Giving his digimon partner a skeptic look, Tai stood up and looked out over the part of the lake visible from the ruins, his eyes closing as he wondered about it as well. "Beats me, guess he got a trick or two up his feathers." Tai Joked as he saw Tailmon slap a paw over his eyes at the bad joke. "Okay, but Babamon was a bust, should we try and find someone else to help us?"

Tailmon, shrugging his shoulder, stood up and looked around the place as well, his ears twisting around to hear if anyone were nearby. "Maybe, but for now, I think we should head home, unless you want your mother to freak out completely."

Shrugging his shoulders at the comment, Tai turned around and cast a look out over the digital field they were in. "So, any idea where we can find a TV to get home with."

"Well." Tailmon started as he cast a sheepish gaze on his human partner. "I'm not sure, I wasn't really paying attention on the way here."

"Great" Tai mumbled out as he stomped out of the ruins. "Guess it's another camp out for us tonight." Staring down at his partner, Tai shook his head. "When we get home, I'm so going to show you to my mother, there's no way I'm taking all of the blame myself."

"Hey Taichi!"

Freezing, Tai slowly turned his head as a voice broke out near him, the sound of it making him blink, as it was hard to make out just whom it was from where he was standing. "Okay, who are you?"

"Relax, I don't want to fight, just talk okay." The voice came again as a figure became clear in the sun light, one hand resting on a tree trunk as a small shadow popped up at his legs. "I just wanted to talk, I haven't met any other kids my age lately, well, not since yesterday when I ended up in this weird world."

Tai frowned as the voice started to sound rather familiar too him, like one he had heard rather recently, but not that much to fully remember who it belonged too. "Sorry, but this might sound dump, but, do we know one another?"

"Man, we only known one another for a day." The voice replied as a familiar blond haired boy stepped into the clearing with a grin on his face. "But I had kind of hoped someone as great as me had at least made an impression on you."

Tai nearly dropped his digivice in shock as he saw the familiar face smiling at him for the second time in his life, the boy holding up a hand as he gave a short wave at him. "Michael?" Tai mumbled out the name as his eyes blinked and extra time to make he wasn't seeing things. "What are you doing here?"

Michael grinned as he saw the shocked expression on Tai's face when he finally recognized him. "You know, I really should ask you the same thing." Then he looked down at the digimon next to him. "Oh yeah, meet Betamon, he's my digimon partner."

Tai stared at the digimon as it greeted him for a few seconds before looking back up at Michael. "So, you're also a digi destined, just like me I guess." Grinning a bit, Tai motioned to the white cat like digimon at his feet. "Oh yeah, this is Tailmon, he and I've been partners for around a month I think."

Michael grinned as he settled down to stare at Tailmon. "Cute one." Then he stood back up and stared at Tai with a determined feel about him. "We need to talk about this, Betamon told me I had to find other kids and fight some kind of evil with them, but that was all he could tell me."

Tai stared hard at the blond haired boy as he rubbed a hand through his hair. "Well, there's the digimon Kaiser, he's currently operating in the northern parts of the digital world ", his eyes half closed in anger as his other hand clenched at his side. "I've destroyed some of his spires, but right now, I'm only interested in fighting Karatenmon."

Betamon looked up at the digimon name as a look of terror passed over it. "Karatenmon?" Then he felt Tailmon, Michael and Tailmon's eyes on him. "I heard rumors form other water digimons, that he's the main bad mon on the server Islands."

"Sever Islands." Tai mumbled out as he looked around to hide just how angry he was. "There's that place again, I heard it mention with Karatenmon before." Looking down at Betamon, Tai grinned a bit as he smiled at the digimon. "Listen Betamon, this is very important to me, do you know where the Server Islands are?"

The shark-frog like digimon smiled as he nodded. "Yes, they lie on the other side of the ocean me and Michael just left." Smiling proudly at his help, Betamon turned to his partner with a big smile on his face. "Many water digimons live there, most of them on the Island of Water."

Tai stood up and looked down at Tailmon next to him. "Well, we know how to get there, now all we need to do is find a way to get there."

Tailmon nodded as he looked over at Betamon. "Yu said you and your friend came omr the ocean right, can you show us where it is, we wanna check it out a bit."

Betamon grinned a bit, as he looked at the feline like digimon. "We'll be happy to do that, right Michael?" Seeing the blond haired boy he had for a partner talking with Tailmon's partner, Betamon gave his best shrug and turned to face the feline like digimon. "Um, you wouldn't have anything to eat would you, I haven't had anything for some time now."

Tailmon shook his head as he turned to stare at Tai across from them. "No, but I think they can help us find some, if we look around a bit for it."

Tai stared at Michael as they stood a bit off to the side of their talking digimon partners. "So, how did you find your way here anyway, the digital Worlds pretty big." Looking rather puzzled as he spoke, Tai moved to hand over the horizon to imprecise his point.

"I'm not completely sure." Michael started as he turned to stare into the horizon with a frown. "Betamon told me to look for a place with food." Turning back to face Tai, he shrugged. "We followed whatever water we could, when we heard a rumor of another human nearby from a group of Elecmons." Michael's eyes narrowed as he looked down at Tai's digimon. "But, I don't see the Flymon the human was rumored to have."

"A Flymon." Taichi's head snapped up at the words as he grabbed the blond haired boy. "Wait, I just saw a Flymon a few minutes ago, it helped save our life, but, neither he or his partner stayed to talk." Turning to stare back at the ruins Taichi shook his head. "I swear, this whole digi destined business is getting more and more complicated with each passing minute"

Michael nodded as he pushed both his hands into his clothes. "Okay, so now what." Turning to Tai again, he gave a deep sigh as he closed his eyes. "Do we go out to look for them or what." Staring at Taichi to see what his reaction was, the blond haired boy continued talking. "Betamon told us we had to form a team, well, that's what I think he meant."

Staring at the boy, Tai shook his head. "I wanna find out who it was that helped me and Tailmon, but not right now." Seeing the question glance Michael shot at him, Tai shook his head as he held up both his hands. "Our Digimon's need to rest, or at least mine do." Staring down at Tailmon, Tai gave a smile as he picked him up. "We also need to find something to eat and fast, otherwise this adventure over."

Not saying a word for a few seconds, the blond haired boy let out a breath of air as he looked around the place again with a tired feel to him. Reaching down a hand, he gave Betamon sitting at his feet a small pet on the head. "Okay, but only because I agree on the food and rest part."

Nodding as he placed Tailmon on his shoulder, Tai began to walk back towards the lake. "We can rest at it's side, but I not sure where we can find food around here."

"Leave that to us." Tailmon added in as he jumped down from Tai's shoulder. "Me and Betamon will search through the trees and places here for food, all you two have to do, is stay out of trouble." Not waiting for Tai answer, Tailmon had already run off into the nearby trees.

Staring after them as Betamon left as well, Michael shrugged and turned to walk down to the lake. "So, what's up with your outfit, you look like a comic book character with that scarf." He spoke at Tai as he stared at the messy haired boy's outfit.

"Hey." Tai countered as he grinned. "It beats looking like a tourist."

------------------------

At the same time back in Odaiba as Tai and Michael were talking, Jun Motomiya sighed as she dropped down on her bed as she gave into the tiredness running through her, her best friend Momo Inoue were still talking like a human waterfall over the cell phone to her in that normal reserved manner she always used. "Look Momo, I admit that Michael is hot, but you have to admit that Matt is even hotter, I mean, there's just so many things that makes Matt so much more cooler then the other blond haired kids I've seen."

Jun frowned as she gave a loud snort in response to something the other girl had just said to her. "No, I don't really think they even come closer to comparing with one another." Sighing dramatically as she waited for a response, Jun lifted up her foot to see if the nail polis on them had dried yet. "So, Matt's a rock star." Waiting a few more seconds, Jun shook her head and sighed again. "I know his dad's a movie star, I'm just saying I have no intention of going out with him, my eyes and heart are all set on the Ishida boy..."

Smiling as she rolled over in her bed, Jun froze in mid talk, as her eyes took in the sudden new thing hanging right outside her window, the eyes of whatever he or it was looking right into hers. "Momo, there's, someone, something outside my window." Looking down at her phone, as she got no answer from it, Jun dropped it when the small battery lamp began to flash madly, the same thing happening with her somewhat out of date laptop standing on her desk. "Mom! Dad!"

Screaming out loudly, Jun turned her head as the window into her room slammed open to allow the person outside to step into the room, or rather float in as he clearly did. Landing on the ground a good deal away from her, the blue eyes looked right into her from under an oversized white wizards hat with a black strip near the bottom of the pointed part.

Stepping back as she went over the intruder's outfit, she blinked as she spotted a white full body costume sporting a lot of zippers in all the wrongs places. A green west, white cape that also covered most of the face from sight, leaving only those blue eyes to stare at her form under a mop of brown hair, the whole thing was complete with a small staff sporting a snow flake ornament on the tip of it.

"Who are you?" Jun blurted out the question as she pressed the wall, having no further places to back up too. Briefly, she glanced over at the door, but saw that the person was blocking it as he moved closer. "No, Stay away!"

"Jun!"

"Jun, Open the door!"

"Sis!"

Turning her head at the pounding sound on her door, Jun blinked as she suddenly felt the person grab her wrist in a somewhat gentle hold, the blue eyes looking right into her own again, but with a bit of sadness in them. "I'm sorry about this child, but I hope, that one day you will forgive me."

At his last words, he turned and pointed his staff at her laptop, the screen flashing wildly for a few seconds before a program popped up on it, the red symbol in the corner flashing to a green one. Only a single second after that, a beam of light shot out of it and flashed into the hand the strange person was holding. "Let go of me, what's going on, what is this thing?"

Screaming and trying to toss the weird object away, Jun gave an even bigger scream as the light form the computer began to grow stronger. "Jun Motomiya, know this." The person yelled as Jun felt herself getting dragged off from the bed and towards the computer screen. "On your shoulders lies the fate of the Server Islands and mine as well."

Giving a last scream, Jun barely heard the last words form the person as he gave a sad look at her again. "Find Taichi Yagami, he will lead you and the others in the battles to come." Then a a bright light washed over her, making her stomach do a strange flip flop as everything rushed by her in a bright flow of colors.

But through all of this, one thought managed to get to the front of her mind, making her grit her teeth in anger as her stomach struggled to keep her last meal from coming up again. "Taichi Yagami, this is all your fault!!" Screaming out her words, the messy haired girl failed to notice that she had stopped falling, and was instead lying on her back on a solid surface.

"Taichi Yagami, who is that?"

Opening her eyes her at the question aimed at her, she blinked as she spotted a human figure blocking out the sun as it stared down at her.

Tbc: A Gathering of Heroes, Facing Musyamon's army.

AN: Finally, a new chapter completed at last. Five months I think it's taken to get this out. But in an excuse it's was hard to make it all work. Plus I was rather put off when my computer died and took the story with it, leaving me with only a draft that was halfway complete.

But, I took some time recently to sit down and go over the general plot for this story. And some changes have been made to it. The other DD's, meaning the 02 kids, and the rest of the 01 digi destined, will be seen even less in this story from now on.

I'm going to focus on Tai and the group as the area of this story moves to the Server Islands. Getting to the main part of the plot is something I want to get over with.

Next digimon story to be focused on, "Tai's little secret Alternate."


	4. Part IV

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Summery: AU.

AN: Back on track again, sort of. Here's another chapter of this great story for all of you readers to enjoy, and don't forget to review okay.

================================  
A lone digi destined  
Part IV  
Gathering of Heroes, Facing Musyamon's army.  
================================

. . 

He was big, he was white, and he was staring at her from under a large amount of hair as he blinked his eyes in confusion over the sudden way the human girl before it had frozen up at his question. 

Giving a loud scream, Jun rolled over on the ground and began to crawl away as rapidly as she could from the strange creature before her, the weirdness of it beating the one she had just had the displeasure of meeting back in her room. Feeling her back hitting something solid, Jun began to whimper, as she had nowhere else to go.

Moving closer, the digimon lowered his head to stare more closely at her, a smile forming on his face as he nodded to her in a greeting manner, a gentle look on his face as he drew back a bit. "Greetings, I'm Mojyamon, nice to meet you." Holding out a large hand, the white furred digimon smiled down at the human before him. "Aw relax, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Really" Jun squeaked out as she slowly stood up from where she had been pressed into the wall, giving a smile of gratitude as the Mojyamon helped her up onto her feet. "Um thanks." Giving a small bow to show her gratitude, Jun looked around the place she was in. "So, I'm guessing I'm not on earth anymore."

Mojyamon gave a hearty laugh at her question and shook his head a bit. "You're right about that, this is the digital world, and you're just a few kilometers outside the city of File City."

"File City, Digital world?" Jun questioned as she dusted off her clothes, freezing as she noticed just what she was wearing. A sleeveless brown jacket over a white shirt and a pair of blue kaki styled long shorts. Instead of just her socks on her feet, she was now wearing a pair of brown boots reaching to a point just below her knees. "Okay, this is, weird. First that lunatic tossed me into the computer, then I'm talking to a..."

The digimon smiled as he placed a fist on his chest in a proud manner. "Mojyamon, that's both my name and digimon form."

"Right." Jun replied as she shook her head. "This is one weird dream, maybe I shouldn't have gone for that slice of pizza on the way home from school after all." Holding out an arm and looking at the white sleeve of her new shirt, she smiled a bit. "Still, it's not that bad an outfit to have, kind of suits me."

Stepping up next to her, the Mojyamon nodded a bit as he scratched his head, wondering if all humans acted that way, then his eyes turned to regard the sky above them a bit. "Hmm, looks like its almost time."

Looking up from taking a closer look at her new outfit, Jun's turned to regard the digimon, getting a feeling that this was starting to be almost like that strange western fairy tail she had been told years ago, the one with the girl and the bunny. "Time, time for what?"

Looking over his shoulder at the human girl, Mojyamon smiled a bit as he waved a hand. "For the festival of course, lots of digimons come to File City this time of year to watch the arena battles and see the legendary four digimons."

Turning fully around, Jun crossed her arms across her chest. "Well, it's not like I have nothing else to do, besides, I might get some answers there."

Mojyamon smiled a bit as he began to walk down the road. "This way, we should be there within an hour."

Following after him, Jun looked a bit puzzled over something as she finally turned to regard the digimon walking next to her. "So, are you a digimon?"

Shooting a look as they walked, the Mojyamon gave a small laugh at her question. "Yup, and champion level no less." Holding up a hand to wiggle a finger in front of her, he smiled a bit wider. "I'm guessing you're the one who caused that lightshow before."

"Well." Jun started as she rubbed a hand through her hair, frowning at just how full of dirt it was. "I don't even know how I got here, the last thing I remember is a weirdo with a white cape and west attacking me."

"White cape, Green west?" Moyjamon asked as he stopped walking, one hand rubbing his head as he gave a deep humming sound while thinking about the description. "Sounds like a Sorcerimon, but, there's really only one of them living on the Sever Islands, and he's the apprentice of one of the legendary digimons." Smiling, he looked at her. "If what you're saying is true, they may be able to help you."

Nodding a bit, Jun Sighed on the inside, as she felt more lost then ever, she had no idea where she was, who the thing next to her was, or even if she was dreaming or awake. But, she could still remember what the digimon has said to her before she was pushed into the computer screen. "Taichi Yagami, when I find you, I'll..."

Shooting her a quick look, the Moyjamon smile faded a bit. "Who is this Taichi Yagami?"

"A jerk." Jun replied as her fist began to itch for her to punch Taichi in the face for getting her into this mess. "A really dead jerk."

Moyjamon looked a bit more confused before he focused on walking towards File City. "I hear that there's going to be a new champion fighting at the Arena this year, a tough fighter, even for a rookie digimon."

* * *

A very good deal way from where Jun was, Taichi Yagami gave a loud sneeze to the surprise of those around him. Wiping a hand under his nose, he looked up at the others with a sheepish expression on his face. "Um, Sorry." 

Grinning a bit, Michael held up his hands. "Its okay." Then he got a slightly big smirk on his face. "You know, I just remember something I heard back home in America."

Not feeling anymore sneezes coming, Taichi grunted a bit as he stretched out his arms to the side, hiding a small yawn from forming. "Really, what?" Taichi mumbled out the words, as he felt better and more awake again.

Giving Tai a devilish grin at his repose, Michael put a bit of distance between the two of them. "Well, they said that if someone talks about you, you would sneeze because of it." Michael nearly broke down laughing at the skeptic expression on Tai's face. "Hey, the girls talked about, I just happened to hear it because."

"You were spying on them?" Tai answered for the blond haired boy who gave him a small nod in return. "Anyway." Taichi started as he looked out at the wide spread out digital ocean before him, the sound of waves crashing onto the shore giving him a mental image of some of the more exotic beaches he had seen on TV. "The Server Islands lies on the other side of this ocean, nice." the last was added as Tai shot a look at Tailmon who looked just as sick as he did at the thought of crossing this big ocean.

Michael nodded in agreement as he had returned to staring at his digivice again, the explanations he had gotten from Taichi not really making much sense to him, then again, reality hadn't made much sense in the last few hours anyway so is wasn't such a big thing. "Yeah, but back to other things, we still need to find out why we're here, and who those other member of our group are."

Shaking himself out of his thoughts and returning his stare to Michael, Tai gave a nod as he looked over to see Tailmon still glaring death at the ocean. "Hey Tailmon, got any ideas where we can find our next member or members?"

Giving Tai a sad look back, Tailmon shook his head as he moved over to jump up onto Tai's shoulder. "Nope, I was just recently born remember." A small curious look crossing over his face as he thought a bit about the past, images forming when he concentrated, but not really making much sense. "But, I do recall you fighting together with someone once, but I' not sure about, my memory kind of fuzzy right now." The last was added as he dared one of them to crack a joke about it.

Michael gave a small sigh as he kicked a bit of sand up into the air. "Guess our adventure ends here then, on a beach in the middle of nowhere."

"Tai!"

Lifting his head up, Tai felt like screaming as he recognized that voice, and the tone of it. Turning his head, he gave a loud sigh as he saw a group of people heading towards them. "Great, my sister."

Looking a bit surprised at his tone of voice, Michael turned to regard the group of people as they landed on the beach before them, the digimon's glowing a bit as they dedigivolved into their rookie forms. "Friends of yours Tai?" HE dared to ask as he watched most of them looking over at the messy haired boy next to him,

Placing both hands in his pants pocket; Tai gave a dark snort at the sight of them. "Used to be, until they were suddenly to busy to hang out anymore." The comment had the brown haired girl and the read haired flinch as they had clearly heard the comment, and the blond haired boy looking a bit puzzled and hurt.

"Jerk." Came the comment from the pink haired member of the group as she turned to regard Michael, her eyes lighting up a bit at the sight of him. "Hiya, I'm Mimi Tachikawa." She gushed out as she held up a hand to wave at him. "The ones next to me are TK." She pointed at the blond haired boy as she named him. "That's Izzy with the lab top and finally..."

"Hikari." Tai finished, as he looked at her, his eyes half narrowed in anger. "So why did you come here Sis?" the words were covered in indifference and had TK fuming in anger as he looked at the scene. Didn't the jerk care about her feelings at all, couldn't he see that he was hurting like that.

Feeling a bit taken back by her brother's attitude, Kari looked at her friends for a moment, before walking over to Tai to look closer at him. "Why are you here Tai?" At her feet, Gatomon had settled down to glare at her look alike sitting at Tai's feet. "I, you could have told me you were a Digi Destined."

Not answering her right away, Tai cast a look over at Michael, silently telling him that he wanted the conversation to be a private one. "Right." Michael mumbled out as he walked over to the three others. "Let's leave them to talk things through okay, so, what your partner's name?" Michael blurted out as he made a motion for them to follow him over to a nearby palm tree.

Turning his attention away form Michael and the others, Tai stared at Kari and then down at her digimon sitting at her feet, his eyes narrowing a bit at the sight of it. "Your partner." Tai mumbled out as he shot a dark look at her. "Looks very much like the one who helped capture mom and dad."

Flinching a bit more at that comment, Kari looked up at her brother as she grabbed his shoulder. "Stop it, why are you always like that?" Her voice rose a bit as she spoke to him. "Can't you just, just, just." Struggling to find the right words, Kari settled for looking down at the sand they were standing on. "Mom and Dad are worried sick about you, you know, and so am I." Kari stopped as she felt her hand getting pushed of his shoulder harshly. "Tai?"

Glaring at her as she stepped back in shock, Tai turned to look out over the ocean. "I don't care about them, or you. I did once you know. Then you changed, became oh so holy and wise." Hands clenched up at his side, Tai shot a her dark look as he watch her take another half step away form him. "I cared about you, but after that summer camp trip."

"I didn't mean to." Kari started as she began to get a good idea of what was making her brother act like that. "I."

"Forget it." Tai responded as he closed his eyes, feeling an old bit of anger swelling up as he thought about the past again, the pain when both his best friend and his sister had started to ignore him, keeping him in the dark about what was going on. "Sora lied to me, and then, I find out that you also knew what was going on, but didn't tell me. And how do I learn about it, from a monster wanting to kill you"

Looking shocked, Kari turned to look at the group talking behind them, but still looking over at them from time to time with a concerned look. "I wanted to tell you about it, but I was worried that you would try something."

"Something stupid, get in your way maybe?" Tai spat out as he looked at her. "Thanks to you I lost my best friend, Mum and Dad kept talking on about how grown up you were after it, and why I couldn't be the same." Eyes narrowed, Tai looked down at his digimon. "And the worst part, you didn't even believe me when I said I had been to the digital world."

Kari looked down at the comment, her heart hurting a bit mentally as she remembered the day, and how she had thought he had just made the whole thing up, it had been right after the Diaboromon incident. "But Tai, I wasn't trying to hurt you, you have to admit it was rather strange what you told me, A four armed digimon, a guy called Roy and."

"It did happen." Tai mumbled out as his head hurt a bit, like a memory was trying to remain buried under a lot of stress and pain. "I know it, someone else was there as well." The last was mumbled out as he looked up from the ground, something had been flying through the air, striking the boy something small and dark. "Spores of darkness."

"What?" Kari mumbled out as she looked up at Tai, her eyes full of confusion at what he was saying, before she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Tai, for all it's worth, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you away."

Shaking himself out his dark thoughts, Tai turned to watch his little sister's hand in his own. Feeling himself cool down a bit as he focused on something else then the past "I know, I wasn't fair myself either, blaming your for Sora suddenly giving up on soccer and spending less time with me."

Not saying anything for a few seconds, Kari looked down to see Gatomon still staring at the digimon looking so much like her. "Who's your partner Tai, she looks like Gatomon."

"Hey." Tailmon spat out as he looked up at her, his blue eyes alit with anger over her comment. "I'm not a female digimon, least of all a push over Gatomon. Names... Ouf"

The last spoken as Gatomon had smacked him with her paw, her own eyes glinting with anger at his comment. "I'll show you who a weakling."

Jumping out of the way of her second attack, Tailmon grinned as he waved his tail in an insulting manner. "We'll see about that kitty, name's Tailmon, and I'm going to pound you."

Staring at his digimon with an embarrassed expression, Tai sighed a bit as he held a hand up before his eyes as his sister gave a small laugh at his side. Not really wanting to see his digimon partner act like a small kitten "Meet Tailmon, he's my partner. Though he used to be an Agumon once."

"Really?" Kari asked as she watched the two cat like digimons rolling around while fighting gently with one another. "Did he digivolve into Tailmon?"

Looking a bit unsure, Tai rubbed a hand through his messy hair as he looked at his sister. "I'm not sure, he said he had been reformatted like that since I last saw him as Agumon." Then he looked up at the sky with a small smile on his face as he felt his sister shake her head. "I'm just glad he's back."

"Um Taichi!" Michael's voice cut through the air, breaking up the re bonding attempt between brother and sister for the moment, as they turned to watch the blond haired boy nearby. "You know that story you told me about Karatenmon?"

Looking a bit confused at the blonde's question, Tai gave a short nod, only to frown a bit more when he noticed they were staring off towards something else. "What is it?"

Lifting up a hand, The blond haired boy pointed at something out on the ocean, his eyes narrowed a bit as he tried to make sure he was seeing the right thing. "That Samurai digimon, does he work for him, causes he seems to be headed this way with a few of his friends."

Looking in the direction that Michael had pointed, Tai blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing some kind of mirage from lack of food. But he still saw the same thing as before, namely "A samurai digimon standing on the back of a giant dragonfly?"

* * *

File City didn't look like much when she had first seen it in the distance, but as they got closer and she could begin to make out the details of the place, she looked far more impressed then before. The place was roughly about one fourth the size of Odaiba, but the buildings looked like a mix of several of Tokyo's districts thrown together. 

Tall metallic buildings stood next to old style temples and Housings, and id she was no mistaken, there was even a gothic styled cathedral rising up over a few of the metal buildings in the distance. "This place, it's." Jun didn't finished, as she didn't know how to out her thoughts about it into words.

Moyjamon nodded as he looked around as well, his eyes lighting up as he spotted a few digimon's he knew. "I'm terrible sorry, but, if you could spare me a few minutes." Not waiting for an answer, he had already run over to talk with a Gazimon and Unimon.

Left behind by him, Jun sighed a bit as she looked around the town square some more, the gates leading out into the digital world was behind her, and the city around her. Watching a small group of Numemon's rushing across the street between two buildings, she froze as she spotted something that was not a digimon.

Standing there, brown hair sticking out in a messy, yet controlled state, was human boy roughly her age. And he was staring at her as he stood in the shadow of a metallic building. Closing her eyes a bit, she reopened them only to see no trace of the person.

Wasting no time to think about the strange sight, she rushed over to where he had been, in time to see the boy slip around a corner further down the street, his head turning only long enough to see her. As she followed him again, Jun noted that whoever it was, he had read far to many comics to be running around in such a tacky outfit, after all, who wore bluish white cloak now a days.

Turning the corner, Jun stopped as she noticed the boy waving at her from a gate, his eyes locked right onto hers from the somewhat short distance between them. Then he vanished into the shadows beyond the gate, causing her to mutter out the word. "Weird." Stepping over to the gate, she looked around the corner of it and into an open courtyard. And standing in the middle of it, the boy was smiling as he noticed her looking at him. "Hey, wait up!"

The boy grinned at her yell before he turned and walked over to a small gate, stepping into it while waving at her to follow him again. Looking a bit hesitant about it at last, Jun looked around the courtyard, noting that it seemed to be part of a much larger building.

Then she shook her head. No matter who the boy was, he had to know more about this place, and how she could get back home again. Therefore, she would have to find him and ask him about it.

Stepping in through the smaller gate, her breath caught in her throat as she looked at the room she had ended up in. Her old school could fit into the place with no problems at all. Corridors moved off to both sides of the vast room, several pillars holding the ceiling and upper floors up. "Wow!"

The word had been the only thing she could say about the place really, the marble finish to all of it making her question just what a boy dressed in a mud brown cloak would be doing in such a place. Then she stepped further into the place, her feet making a small squeaky sound at it the floor.

After walking through the large room, Jun stopped as she reached another gate, this one leading out to a small corridor heading further away, a small pin prick of light at the end suggesting it lead out into an open area. Next to the gate, a large podium stood raised up into the air, four large thrones planted on it.

"Pst!"

Turning her head at the sound, she spotted the boy waving at her from a small door, a more urgent feeling to him then before as he looked at her. "What?" Asking the question out loud, she froze as it echoed through the room, loudly, clearly reached whoever was nearby the room. "Sorry."

The boy had moved back in through the door at her outburst, but had left it open for her. Clearly showing that he wanted her to follow after him.

Silently debating if she shouldn't just turn back and leave again. Jun finally nodded as she walked over to the door and looked through it, seeing nothing but a spiral staircase leading up into the upper parts of the building.

Slowly stepping up the stairs, she reached the end far to quickly for her liking, finding herself standing in a doorway leading into a smaller version of the room below, the same four thrones placed on a podium just like they had been below, but these thrones wasn't all empty, as two towering digimons sat on them.

One of them was a well-muscled, white lion man like digimon dressed in black leather pants and sporting a short western style sword at his hip. The other was a tall, heavily muscled one as well, with several chains wrapped around its body and a skull like mask on its face.

Looking up from staring on the ground, the Lion man like digimon sighed a bit as he stood up. "So, what you're saying Skullmeramon, is that the temple of Fire was attacked as well." His eyes showing a bit of concern as he stood up. "I have already received word that Karatenmon have attacked the temple of Air and Earth, stealing the artifacts from within them, what's worse is that he has claimed control of the islands themselves."

Skullmeramon didn't answer, as his hand was busy tapping a finger on the stone armrest of his throne. "The fire temple was attacked yes, but the key is not in Karatemmon's possession, instead, a human girl stole it from the digimon's as they tried to escape." Looking a bit more troubled then before, he turned to regard the digimon next to him. "There have been reports of another human in the city, and of Karatenmon leaving the Islands, heading towards the main land."

The lion man like digimon gave a deep humming sound as he stood, clearly deep in thought as he walked out into the center of the thrones. "We four digimons, centuries ago, we battled against the digimon of darkness, and sealed him away, but only after the digimon of light had fallen." Clenching both his hands at the side, the lion man like digimon turned to regard the other digimon. "After that, we hid the keys in four temples and retired to this city. But rumors begun to spread, that four humans would rise and end the age of the elemental digimons."

Barely listing to the history lesson, Skullmeramon stood up and swung a hand out in a wide arc. "Why, we have brought peace to these lands, we are not the reason for the Darkness invading the islands again." Eyes narrowing a bit behind the skull mask, the digimon pulled a chain taunt as he stared at the other digimon. "Or are you believing in the old legends as well Panjyamon."

The lion man like digimon grinned a bit as he pulled out his sword and watched the light glint off it. "I have seen many things in my life Skullmeramon, most striking is the power of a human digimon bond, they can do things we couldn't do, like defeat the Dark Master's." Eyes growing haunted at the words, he turned to face the wall, watching the sun through the window. "We were all together once, believing that we were needed to maintain balance on these islands, me, you, and the four others. Now, AeroVeedramon is deleted and lost, Mystimon is banished to the dark area."

Skullmeramon stood up as he went over Panjyamon's words. "True, and how have we four remaining soverns fared." Voice growing sarcastic at the last bit, he grinned. "Mermaimon is obsessed with hunting down and deleting digimon's whom she claims are tainted by darkness. My realm is hostile and nearly overrun by the Ghost Kingdom, and your realm is now controlled by Karatenmon who have betrayed us all."

Closing his eyes to hide the shame and hurt in them, Panjyamon stopped as he looked up, his nose twitching as he sniffed the air around them. "Someone's here." Turning his head to regard the door, his eyes narrowed as he spotted Jun standing in the opening. "A human!"

Turning around as fast a she could, Skullmeramon watched the shocked expression on Jun's face before she dived back around the door frame and ran down the staircase, the sound clearly heard by the two digimons now that they knew she was there.

Skullmeramon growled in anger at having been spied on by a lowly human, then he began to walk over to the door, stopping as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "She must not be allowed to leave, you know as well as I do what the legends say, to end the age of our rule, they will have to deleted us. And with Mystimon still mad at us, he'll drag us into the Dark Area if that happens."

Not answering to the outburst of his fellow digimon right away, Panjyamon stared at the door opening before a dark smirk spread over his face. "We know she's here, she can't escape." Turning his head to the side, he stared into the shadows in the other end of the room. "Apemon, have all gates to the castle closed, but leave the path to the arena open." Turning to regard his companion, he smirked darkly. "We'll crush her in the arena, to show that no one is as powerful as us. Even if the end is coming for us, I will not give up until I can't fight it anymore."

* * *

Stepping away from Kari, Tai reached down for his digivice, his eyes moving over to see Tailmon jumping up and getting ready to fight as well. If there was one thing he had learned from his time in the digital world, it was that not all digimon's could be trusted. 

Behidn him, Kari had turned her head up to look as well, her eyes showing a bit of puzzlement at the reaction from both her brother and that strange blond haired boy. They almost acted as if the digimon was out to hurt them, but that would only happen if a digimon was controlled by a dark ring, other then that, they might just be a bit rude to one.

Still, there had been the mentioning of a Karatenmon from her brother, and the venom filled tone that he had spoken it with, had made her blink her eyes in shock. Whoever the digimon was, it hadn't gotten on her brothers friendly side. "Tai, what are you doing? It's just a group of digimon's."

Not turning his sight away from the digimons, Tai sighed a bit at his sister comment, the words making him grit his teeth in annoyance. Didn't she trust him at all, or was he still just her immature older brother. "Listen Kari, he isn't just another digimon, he might work for."

"I don't see a dark ring on them." Mimi yelled out as she turned to watch the rest of the group, her body relaxing a bit as she removed her hand from her own digivice. "Should we try and talk with him Izzy?"

The red haired boy shrugged as he pulled out his lab top, opening it and watching as it scanned the digimon's and gave him their information. "Musyamon, a champion level virus digimon, his shogun sword can cut trough all attacks." Then he focused on the insect digimon. "Yanmamon, champion level as well, his Thunder Ray and Insect Ohm will leave his foes helpless."

The samurai digimon looked down from atop Yanmamon and gave a dark smirk behidn his mask. For some reason, the number of human children was far higher then he had expected, but he had spotted the messy haired child that had caused Karatenmon so much trouble. But, against his blade, they would all fall.

Jumping off the Yanmamon, Musyamon landed on the ground a a good deal away from the children, pulling out his sword and holding it front of him, pointing the tip at the chest of the messy haired boy. "Prepare yourself child, for today, I will bring your digivice to lord Karatenmon as the proof of your death."

"What!" Kari, Izzy, TK and Mimi yelled out as they watched Tai and Tailmon tense up. Then Kari's eyes narrowed a bit as she watched the Samurai like digimon. "Excuse me, but just what have my brother done to earn your master's displeasure anyway?"

Turning his head to face her, Musyamon lifted up his sword in front of him. "His crimes are many, but the most foul of them is this." Slashing out with his sword, Musyamon sent up a cloud of sand to hide himself from the digi destined. "He stands in my lord's way."

As the sand settled, Tai gave a cry of surprise and shock as Musyamon descended towards him from the sky, sunlight glinting of his sword as he let out a battle cry.

"Boom Bubble!"

A loud clanging sound filled the air as Musyamon was pushed back into the a flip by a bubble of compressed air hitting his chest plate. Landing on the ground, he stared across the beach until he saw the digimon who had dared to interfere. "A simple rookie digimon." Turning to regard Tai, he gave a sound of disapproval. "I didn't think you would have someone else do your fighting for you child. I guess Gorillamon's accounts of all your battles were a lie."

Clenching up his fist, Tai glared at the digimon who had insulted him. "Shut up. I don't need anyone's help to defeat you."

Relaxing a bit, Musyamon looked at the five humans and their digimons, a dark smirk forming on his face as he lifted up a hand in front of him. "In that case, why don't I make sure no one will interfere in our little battle?" Snapping his finger, he grinned darkly as the sand exploded behind him.

Jumping out of the sand cloud, a red digimon with a black mask twirled around in the air, followed by three other digimons looking just like him, pulling out their swords as they reached the top of their jump. Landing before Musyamon, their swords held down in a submissive way, the one in the lead, lifting his head to stare up at the samurai digimon. "Master's Musyamon, let us, the four great Kougamon deal with the other digimons."

Just giving a nod in reply, Musyamon lifted up his sword and focused his attention on Tai, light glinting of his sword blade as he stepped forward. "Come child, let me see the power which has my master so scared." Then he looked over at Tailmon who had shook off the confusion he was suffering from. "Then again, a small thing like him could hardly match me, and without the energy to armor digimon, well. I don't really think it will be much of a battle."

Tailmon gave a frustrated sound at the dismissing way he had been talked about, before he gave a loud hissing sound at the sight of the battle stance of the evil digimon. "I may not be able to Armor Digivolve right now, but I can still beat you." Running forward, the cat like digimon jumped up into the air and lashed out with his paw. "Eat this, Lighting paw!"

Giving a cry of surprise, the samurai like digimon jumped back through the air to land on the sandy beach. "You're a feisty one" Holding up his sword in front of him, the samurai like digimon grinned. "For once, I'm glad I had those Kougamon's spy on you before I made my move."

Glaring death at the digimon, Tai slowly lifted up his digivice and D-terminal, pressing the button to open up the lid on it, the screen blinking a bit before the image of the Digiegg of courage popped up. "Tailmon, you sure you don't have enough energy to armor digivolve?"

Turning around to face Musyamon. Tailmon hissed a bit as he thought of his partner's question, but already knowing that the samurai digimon was right. "I'm sorry, but I haven't had anything to at in almost two days." Then he looked straight ahead with a pure look of determination. "But I won't let that stop me."

"Brave words." Musyamon replied as he lifted up his sword. "Come, show me what you can do with the last bits of energy you have left."

"Oh I'll show you." Tailmon spat out as he ran across the sand. Heading right towards the samurai digimon.

Moving in a perfect line, the four Kougamon's lifted up their swords in front of them as they came closer to the four rookie digimons. Light glinting off the metallic blades as they powered up an attack. "Scattler Diamond!"

"Ahhh!" Giving a loud scream as they jumped back, TK, Izzy and Mimi glared at the four digimons heading towards them. A bright light coming from the two oldest digi destined digivices.

"Palmon digivolve too." glowing bright white, Palmon form fade from view as it grew into a much larger, cactus like one with red boxing gloves. "Togemon!"

"Tentomon digivolve too." Floating in the air, Tentomon's body spun around as it grew much bigger then before, gaining a more insect like look then before as he landed on the ground. "Kabuterimon!"

Pulling out his d-terminal, TK popped it open as he looked at Patamon. "Ready?" Getting a nod from him, he smiled as he held out his D3. "Digi Armor Energize!"

"Patamon Armor digivolve too." Merging with the light form the digi of hope, Patamon body glowed bright white as it turned into a horse like digimon with wings. "Pegasumon, the flying hope!"

Seeing the two champion digimons and a single armor digimon. The four Kougamon broke up their formation, each of them going for a different digimon.

Slamming his arms together, Kabuterimon stared at the one headed for him, the sword held up over its head as it swung it down towards him. "Electro Shocker!" Only to get blasted by the giant insect digimons counter attack, sending the Kougamon flying back with smoke coming from his mask.

A bit away form Kabuterimon. Togemon glared at the Kougamon diving through the air towards her. A diamond glittering as the ninja like digimon held it out. "Coconut punch!" Until Togemon lashed out with a vicious right hook straight into the digimon's masked face. Giving a victory cry as the Kougamon was send flying back through the air to impact a palm tree.

On the ground next to the second Kougamon, the first one was still smoking a bit as he stood up. "Okay, direct attacks don't work on those two, so let's go for a long range one."

Pushing himself away from the palm tree, the second Kougamon nodded and then stopped as he watched Togemon rushing towards them. "I don't think we will get a chance to do that."

"What?" The first Kougamon replied until he saw Togemon as well. "Oh, I see."

Slamming her hands together, Togemon growled in anger as she spread them apart again. "Eat this, Needle spray!" Sending a rain of sharp needle like spikes towards the two Kougamons. Missing them as the two digimons showed great skill in Jumping out of the way. "They're too fast."

"Just keep fighting." Kabuterimon replied as he shot past her, his arms crossed as he headed right towards the Kougamon that had attacked him. "Electro shocker!"

Giving a cry of surprise, The Kougamon slashed his sword out in an attempt to stop the attack. Failing, as the move only lead the lighting attack through the metal blade, and into his body. Making it light up with blue arcs of electricity for a few seconds.

As the light fade away, the Kougamon stared right at Kabuterimon, before he dropped his sword. "I failed!" Barely uttering the words, as he broke apart into his digital data.

Turning away, Kabuterimon watched the second Kougamon run off. "One down." Then the Kougamon was hit by Togemon fist, sending him flying up into the air. "Well, two down." To land on the Yanmamon swooping down to help in the fight. "Or not."

Fighting his own Kougamon, Pegasusmon was taking full advantage of being able to fly. Sending down an attack or two when he thought he could hit the ninja like digimon. Scoring only a few spread out hits with his star shower.

The fourth Kougamon had turned away from the fight to see Gatomon standing next to Kari. Pulling out a diamond from inside his mask. "Eat this kitty cat." Tossing it through the air, the diamond glowed with a bright light. "Scattler Diamond!"

Looking at the diamond, Gatomon smirked as she jumped over it and landed on her hind legs, using her glove governed front paws to taunt the Kougamon with. Causing steam to shoot out of the attacking digimon's ears, as he grew mad.

Watching her, Kari had pulled out her D-terminal and D3 as soon as the digimon had begun to attack, the digi of light popping on the screen of the D-terminal. "Gatomon, get ready." Holding out her D3 as she spoke, Kari looked at the fighting taking place, wishing that it wasn't happening. "Digi Armor Energize!"

"Gatomon Armor digivolve too." Merging with the light from the digi egg of light, Gatomon's body glowed as it grew to several times it normal size. A metal mask forming on her face as her gloves turned into metal ankles. "Nefertimon, the angel of Light!"

Stopping his run, The Kougamon gave a small squeak of surprise, as he was now face to face with someone bigger then him, his sword nearly falling out of his hand. "Wait."

Giving no sign of having heard the digimons request, Nefertimon powered up an attack and aimed it dead center between the ninja like digimon's eyes. "Cat's Eye Beam!" The powers of her attack plowing the Kougamon away from her, and back through the sand painfully.

Watching her brother's fight when she could, Kari bit her lip as it became clear that Tai's digimon wasn't at full power, and up to this fight. "He needs help." The words aimed at the group behind her, but knowing that they couldn't spare anyone from the fight with the Kougamons and Yanmamon to help him.

Pulling out his digivice. Michael looked down at Betamon and frowned. "Think you're up to this digivolving thing?" His voice making Kari and the others turn to face him with mixed stares.

On the ground, Betamon looked a bit lost before he turned around and began to jump across the sand, not really knowing how to do this digivolving thing, but still heading straight towards the place where Tailmon was fighting to help.

Looking at the rookie digimon after deflecting one of Tailmon's attacks, Musyamon grinned a bit. "More weaklings to help, really, this fight is beneath one of my level." Swinging his blade back, he powered up an attack and focused fully on hitting the small digimon. "Ninja Blade!"

"Lighting Paw!"

Giving a loud roar of surprise, Musyamon missed his target completely as he felt Tailmon's attack drill into the back of his body. The blade of energy he had sent out sending up a wave of sand instead of instantly deleting the rookie digimon like he had planned. Still, it had knocked the digimon out into the water.

Nearly dropping his digivice, Michael stared at where his partner had landed. "Betamon?" Then he felt a pain in his heart as he began to move forward, a need to be at his digimons side overpowering him. "Betamon!" Screaming out his name, he stopped a bright light formed in his clenched up hand, his digivice giving off a loud beeping sound.

Behind him, Izzy and Mimi had looked up as the sound filled the air. "His digimon, he's digivolving."

Down under the ocean surface, Betamon eyes snapped open as a wave of power and strength swept through him, the water around him getting pressed back by a bubble of white light. "Betamon digivolved too." Body growing much bigger then before, his legs turned into fins as he face grew into a golden colored dragon like head with a toothless mouth, seconds before he shot out of the water. "Seadramon!"

Turning around at the sudden sound of water splashing, Musyamon stared at the suddenly much larger digimon heading right towards him. "What?"

Opening his mouth, Seadramon gathered up power for his first attack ever in a champion form, aiming it right at Musyamon's armor covered chest. "Ice blast!"

Eyes widening a bit under his helmet at the sight, Musyamon swung his sword around in front of him to counter the attack from Seadramon. "Shogun Sword!" Making his sword glow with power as shatter them beam of ice before it could hit him. Leaving himself open to the charging Seadramon shooting through the remains of his own ice attack. "Damn it."

Turning around as fast as he could, Seadramon stare down at the knocked over Musyamon pulling himself up. Feeling a bit unsure as it looked like the first had attack barely hurt him, or the follow up body slam for that matter.

Swinging his sword up in front of him, Musyamon smirked as he watched the champion digimon floating in the air. "So, it looks like you reached your champion stage?" Slipping into a good battle stance, Musyamon pointed the tip of his blade at Seadramon. "Care to test how powerful it is?"

* * *

Running down the stairs, Jun gasped as she reached the large room below. The place looking a lot darker then it had before. Stepping away form the door and running out into the place, she froze when she spotted a yellow; ape like digimon standing in the doorway she had entered into the room the first time. His face looking right at her as he lifted up his hand. 

Then the door slammed shut before him, followed by a loud series of bangs around the room as other doors were either closed or bolted. Even the one right behind her gave a loud bang as it was shut from the inside. Leaving her trapped in the room.

Stepping further out into it, Jun eyes turned from side to side, hoping to see one door that hadn't been closed yet. A small smile forming as she spotted the door with the light at the end of it. Eyes narrowing, Jun stepped away from it with a sarcastic snort. Just how stupid did they think she was. Even a five year old would see it was a trap.

"Lost?"

Giving a loud scream at the sudden voice behind her, Jun turned to see the strangest digimon yet, besides the one back in her own bedroom. But at least this one had a human face, even if it had enough black make-up on it to supply two goths. Still, maybe this digimon hadn't heard anything yet ad though she was just someone who ended up lost. "Um Yeah,"

Smiling a bit too brightly, the digimon nodded and waved one of her massively oversized hands towards a nearby door that was shut tight. "Well, it's right this way if you want to return to the main street as quickly as you can." Dragging Jun over to it before the messy haired girl had a chance to protest.

"Stupid digimon." Jun muttered out as she stared at the closed door, a puzzled look on her face as she turned back to face the digimon again, her eyes showing just how tired she was of it all when she was presented with the same smile from the digimon as before. "It's locked, just like all the other doors." Jun spat out as she noticed the still open door behind them, giving it a weary look.

Giving the door a good look over, the digimon giggled a bit as she pulled a bit on her wizard like hat. Disturbing a black cat that had been curled up around it. "Well, that is true." Then she smiled brightly again. "But I have just the right key, if you don't mind." Making a small motion for Jun to get out of the way, the digimon stepped up to the door. "Baru Luna Gale!" Sending out a bright, pale yellow blast of power from her hands right into the door.

Stumbling back and falling on her butt, Jun stared in terror as the digimon turned back from the smoking wreck that used to be a door, the same smile on her face as ever. "The door's open now." Mutely nodding at the digimon's announcement. Jun stood up and edge through the opening, making sure to keep her eyes on the digimon at all time. "Take care out there"

Not caring how it would look anymore, Jun bolted off down the corridor, a scream barely held down in her throat as she turned around a corner and out through the door there.

Left behind in the room, the digimon's smile faded and was replaced by a frown as she looked around the room. "Okay, I got her out of here, now explain why she was inside the castle in the first place?" Her eyes stopping at the four throne at the end of the room.

Giving a small chuckle, the human boy from before stepped out from behidn one of them. Taking a bit of time to adjust the white cloak he was wearing before he jumped of the podium. "Calm down Witchmon. As I told you, this is all part of the plan I devised."

Looking a bit uncomfortable, the digimon sighed as she turned to walk away from him, using her powers to call a old style broom to her. "Whatever." Jumping up onto it, she scowled a bit as she looked around the room. "Were is that blasted cat now?"

"Forget about the cat." The boy replied as he walked over to the door, staring out of it to make sure Jun had left the place already. "Things are not going as I had expected, Karatenmon is getting too close to unlocking the Dark Gate."

"And freeing Mystimon." Witchmon replied as she looked at him. "Do you fear him?" Her voice took on a mocking tone at the end as she began to hover in the air. "Just know this, I only help you because I want the false sovern's defeated." Not waiting for answer to that statement, Witchmon left, flying out through the shattered door.

Watching the digimon form the corner of his eyes, the boy sighed at the tone of her voice. After all these years he had gotten used to the sometime rude, or simply outright anti social digimon. But, if he had to put up with her to save the digital world, so be it.

Waving a hand through the air, the boy's body waved and shifted a bit until it was replaced with a form looking a good deal more like a digimons. Wearing a blue and white wizard's outfit and cloak. "Hopefully, they will be able to end the curse of darkness on these Islands." Pulling out a staff, he held it up and began to hover in the air. "If they live long enough to escape the false soverns."

Running out of a small wooden door, Jun took in a deep breath of surprise as she found herself standing in an alley between two buildings again. The sounds of digimons talking nearby making her relax a bit.

Whatever this place was, she had finally decided on one thing. She didn't like it one bit. In fact, she wanted to go home at once, and there was only one person she knew who might be able to tell her how to do that. But where to find him, in fact, where did one find a human child in a place like this?

Stepping out of the alleyway, Jun looked to the sides and smiled as she spotted a much wider and more travel street to the left of her. Stepping out onto it, she looked around and focused her attention on the towering cathedral like building in the distance.

It had also been in that direction, but a bit closer. Which meant she was still in the same area of File City as before, but in a different street. Taking a step, she smiled a bit before continuing to walk down the street, her hopes a bit higher up then before as she was fairly sure of what to do now. Find Taichi Yagami, and pound him for getting her stuck in this nightmare.

At the same time, the digimon dressed in blue and white looked down at her from the roof of one of the buildings. Right about now, the false soverns should learn that she had escaped from their castle. Which meant it wouldn't be a long time before digimons would be looking for her.

Giving a small thinking sound, the digimon turned its head to focus on the western side of the side of the city. The girl would need her digimon partner, and soon. And just what was keeping the two boy's from getting to the Server Island's, the time left before Karatenmon opened the dark gate and released Mystimon was running out fast.

* * *

Firing off another cat's eye beam. Nefertimon grumbled as the Kougamon simply jumped out of its way, but still kept a good distance from her, despite his advantage in speed. Still, the battle couldn't continue for much longer. "Kari, they won't stop attacking, should I?" 

Turning her attention from her brother's battle before her. Kari focused her attention on the fight between her own digimon and the Kougamon. "No, try to knock him out instead. Only delete him if there's no other way."

Next to her, Izzy had pulled out his lab top again and stared at the screen as he pushed a few buttons on it. "It makes no sense, only dark ringed digimons should be openly aggressive like that." Turning his attention to Michael, he narrowed his eyes a bit. "Michael, who is this Karatenmon? He might be a part of the answer to this."

The blond haired boy looked away from his partner as he heard the question, his eyes closing as he tried to recall everything he had been told of the digimon from Tai. "He's some sort of powerful digimon out to kill Tai, something to do with the Server Islands and some destiny."

"A dark digimon?" TK voiced out as he turned to face the others who looked a bit more concerned. "But, all digimon's infected by darkness should have been defeated when Apocalymon was deleted." Turning to face the Kougamon's, he nodded a bit. "Pegasumon, stop them, but don't delete them."

Kari looked just s concerned as the other's, but had most of her attention focused on Tai as the messy haired boy had his digimon attack the samurai like digimon. "Nefertimon, tie them up, that should stop the battle. We have to find out what this is about."

Giving a confirming reply, Nefertimon lined up with Pegasusmon as they flew through the air, a golden glow forming around the lower parts of their front legs. "Golden Noose!" Yelling out their co-operative attack at the same time, they swept down at the Kougamons.

Looking up, the first of the remaining three Kougamon's gave a curse as he was hit by the golden band of energy between Nefertimon and Pegasusmon, followed by the second one. With the third one escaping in the last second by making a jump up into the air and off Nefertimon's head.

"We missed one." Pegasusmon yelled out as he and Nefertimon circled around a Palm tree, tying the two Kougamons to it.

Watching the Kougamon, Nerfetimon powered up one of her other attacks, aiming it right where the still falling digimon would land. "Rosetta stone!"

Looking up as he felt the sand under his feet, the Kougamon gave a loud scream of surprise, as all he could see was a rapidly approaching slap of stone with writing on it, and then everything blacked out with a very large amount of pain.

Staring at it, Pegasusmon gave a small sigh. "Well, that is one way of handling it." Then he looked up to see Yanmamon playing tag with Kabuterimon and Togemon. The cactus digimon having the most trouble since she couldn't fly, but still trying to hit the insect digimon when he came closer enough. "Come on, we have to help them."

Off to the side, Musyamon frowned as he noticed his special squad had been defeated. And that he was now facing off against two armor digimons and four champions. Not really a battle that looked like it would be in his favor. "Ah, I see the odds have changed." Swing his sword up in front of him, he grinned as he watched the two Kougamons tied to the tree. "I shall withdraw, after removing these weaklings."

Watching the digimon as he suddenly took off running, Michael turned to watch Seadramon floating out the sky, his mouth opening as blue light swirls formed inside of it. "No wait!"

Not hearing his partner at first, Seadramon fired off the ice attack, mentally grinning as he was sure that Musyamon couldn't avoid the attack when he was running away. "Ice Blaster!" It wasn't until the beam of ice had left, that he heard his partner's cry, and saw what the samurai like digimon had planned as he suddenly jumped right up into the air.

"No." The world left Michael's mouth as he watched his digimon partners attack wipe out the two defenseless Kougamon's, their scream filled their air a second before their bodies froze solid and shattered into digital data.

In the air, Musyamon twirled around and looked down at the last Kougamon on the battlefield. "Shogun Sword!" Cutting him in half as he passed over him. "Well brats and digi loser. I shall retire for now, until the next time." Slashing his sword downward, he sent up a cloud of sand to hide him behind.

"Huh, he's gone?" Tailmon muttered out as he shook the sand from his ears, seeing that the digimon had indeed left as all the sand settled. Knowing that the next time he met that digimon, he would turn him nothing more then a punching bag.

Behind him, Tai had walked up and stared in the direction where Musyamon had been just a minute ago. "This, was the strangest fight yet." the words muttered out as he ran a hand trough his hair. Then he felt someone walk up behind him.

"Tai." Kari started as she stopped right behind him. "I think you owe me and the others an explanation about this."

"Yeah." Mimi added in as she stopped next to Kari. "Who was that digimon, and why was he after you."

Walking up as well, Izzy closed the lab top and placed it on his back again, his face showing a bit more of a curios expression then an angry or indifferent one. "It would be nice with an explanation. And I am interested in hearing a bit more about this Karatenmon."

TK gave a sharp nod at Izzy's words, the need for an explanation also burning through him as he stepped up to them. Patamon rushing over to him as he dedigivolved back from Pegasusmon. "So, what is the reason, he can't just be after you because of that hairstyle of yours."

Giving a small giggle at TK's halfhearted joke, Mimi watched as the messy haired boy glared at them, feeling a bit more taken back then if he had simply turned and refused to say something to them. "Well, say something? We have a right to an explanation."

Staring at her, Tai gave a snort as he turned back to look out over the ocean. "I don't see why I have to tell you. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't involve any of you." Snapping out the last word, Tai began to walk away. "Karatenmon is my problem, and mine alone."

Rising an eyebrow, Michael rushed forward a bit, momentarily forgetting what his digimon had been tricked into doing. "I thought that Betamon had told you that four people were needed to save the Server Island."

Stopping in his tracks, Tai looked at the blond haired boy and sighed. His eyes showing just how tired he was as he turned back to look at the group behind him. "Fine, I'll work with them, but it's my problem."

Listing to what Tai told them, Kari got a strange look on her face when Tai mention the weird dark world he had been to. The words of it sending a shiver down her back for some reason. Still, she had to know something. "So, he just attacked you, claiming that some ancient prophecy said you were destined to destroy him."

Nodding a bit, Tai looked away from the group as he tried to ignore the small voice in his head yelling at him for not mentioning Karatenmon poisoning him. "All I know is, that all the digimon's I have meet so far, keep talking about something called the Server Islands."

"Server Islands?" TK asked as he turned to face Izzy, a deep frown on his face. "You ever heard of that place?"

Shaking his head, Izzy pulled up a map of the digital world on his lab top and showed it TK and the others. "I've done a bit of research, and all I could find, is their location on the digital map." Pointing a finger on the map, Izzy blinked as he saw Tai grin. "Uh, something wrong?"

Stepping over to look at the map, Tai's grin turned a bit bigger. "Nothings wrong, but you just answered one of my questions." Turning to face Tailmon next to him, he dropped the lab top back into Izzy's hands. "Now that we know where it is, anyone have any idea how to get there."

"Tai." Kari nearly yelled out the name as she stood up, a serious look on her face as she walked over and grabbed his arm rather forcefully. "You can't. Mom and Dad's going crazy, from worry. You have to come home now."

"I can't." Tai replied as he looked down at Kari. "I've never been this close to finding Karatenmon as I have now. I can't go back home."

Looking rather shocked at his words. Kari turned to Izzy. "But, there's is another way to get to the Server Islands, one that doesn't require you to stay in the digital world right?."

Staring at the digital map, Izzy shook his head. "Sorry, but there's not a single gate anywhere near or on them." Seeing the expression of Kari's face, he sighed and stood up. "Look, other the finding and dragging a TV to those Islands, there's no other way of creating a gate." Freezing, Izzy stared at the two Yagami kids as they both smirked at him. "Don't, do you know how hard that would be. It would have to be un-hooked and then re-hooked to the digi gate program. I don't even know how it works."

Looking at Izzy with puppy eyes, Kari smiled as sweetly as she could. "Come on Izzy, it would make it easier for all of us. Tai won't have to stay in the digital world, and..."

"It will get you lot to back off" Tai added in as he looked down at Kari. Feeling a bit of his resentment rising as he watched her behavior towards the other boy. "And if it will mean easier traveling, then I'm all for it."

"Jerk." Mimi muttered out as she watched Kari's eyes flash with a bit of hurt at her brother's comment, her opinion of him not improving one bit. "I say we don't do it and let him walk the whole way."

Glaring at the pink haired girl, Tai snorted a bit as he crossed his arms. "Who asked for your opinion anyway?" Then his eyes narrowed a bit more. "Don't tell you were one of the digi destined?"

Clenching her own hands at her side, Mimi resisted the urge to throttle Tai at the way he had just spoken of her. "I am and I think I'm doing better as it then you, at least I haven't starved Palmon." The last was added as she pointed at Tailmon whose stomach chose that moment to growl a bit.

Looking at them, TK shook his head at the sight of it. "No, you just threw her in jail with my brother and Sora."

"Butt out." Mimi growled back at the young, blond haired boy, her eyes catching Tai smirking at her as he watched them. "What!?"

Staring at her angry face, Tai smirked the smirk of the righteous ones. "Seems you're not so perfect after all, pinky."

"Pinky!" Giving a scream at the insult, her hand flashed out and smacked Tai on the side of his head. "How dare you mock my hair color, I think it's pretty."

Glaring at her while rubbing a hand over the red glowing print on his cheek. Tai growled a bit as well. "It pink for crying out loud, you look like you belong in cartoon with that hair color."

Flashing death from her eyes at the comment, Mimi's fingers made a strange cracking sound as she snapped out a hand to point at Tai's hair. "What about yours, mister I look like a Dragon ball Z character."

Rubbing a hand through his hair at her comment, Tai looked at her with a deeply annoyed expression. "What's wrong with my hair? And Dragon Ball Z for that matter?"

"It looks like a bird made a nest on your head." Mimi snapped back as her face lit up with a smirk.

Glaring back at her, Tai grinned darkly as he narrowed his eyes. "At least mine don't look like it's a piece of candy on a stick."

Eyes flashing with more anger at the last comment, Mimi stomped closer to Tai. "Are you calling me scrawny?" Her eyes shooting out lighting as she spat the words out at him.

"Yeah." Tai spat back at her as his eyes shot out lighting as well, the air growing thick with their anger.

On the ground, Tailmon and Palmon struggled to keep the two from hurting each other. The cat like digimon mumbling a bit under his breath, as he pushed back on Tai's feet. "No one ever told me being a destined digimon was this hard."

"Be glad." Palmon muttered out as she tried to get Mimi to calm down. "At least they're not trying to kill each other."

"Jerk!"

"Bimbo!"

Looking up as the insults had turned into name-calling, Palmon shook her head. "At least not yet."

Off to the side, Kari, TK, Izzy and Michael stared at the two arguing kids. "Are they always like that?" Michael asked as he turned to face the others. "They didn't seem to get along back home either."

Looking deeply embarrassed, Kari shook her head. "I don't know." Then she turned to face Izzy. "So, how long would it take you to set up that gate?"

Looking at his lab top for a few seconds, Izzy smiled a bit. "A few hours, once we have found one and a good place to set it up." Turning away from Kari to face TK and Michael, Izzy put away his lab top. "Okay, we're going to have to get started if we want to get this done ASAP."

Nodding, Michael and TK smiled a bit, before looking at one another. "So, who gets to break those two up?"

Turning to face Tai and Mimi who were still throwing insults at one another, while their digimon's still tried to get them to stop, they shared a look among all four of them. "You do it."

Tbc: Server Islands, here we come. AN: Started off as a very messy chapter, but I should have gotten it all worked out now. But I'm, still not completely sure of it. Things are looking very messy right now. With a lot of digimons running around with no real explantion behind their motives. But that should be cleared up in future chapters. 

Now, while this story is the one that gets the most reivews, I'm not so focused on it right now. I really want to get "Twist of Fate" finished, so I'll be working on that for the most part.

Once again, leave your review, and please, tell me what you like about the story so far, or don't like.

Am I the only one who think the quick edit and preview part of means a massive amount of time spent trying to get to show the document just as you tried to upload it. So far it ignored half of the html codes it says is allowed. Most notely of them is the line break code.

I know I spent 25 minutes trying to figure out why it wouldn't let me use a simple line of - to show I was changing between two locations. As can be seen, I never figured out why.


	5. Part V

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Summery: AU.

* * *

A lone digi destined  
Part V  
Server Islands, here we come. 

* * *

Silence filled the dark central room of Karatenmon's castle, as the dark digimon watched his servant Musyamon bowing before him. "Things are not going the way I expected them too." The tone of his voice as cold as ice, the only sound coming from the tapping of a finger on his throne's armrest. "And you, one of my best warriors, you really disappoint me,"

Twitching at the cold anger behind those words, Musyamon dared to look up at his master. "The digi destined, they surprised me." Stammering a bit as he spoke, the digimons eyes moved from one side of the room, to the other, watching Karatenmon's other favorite digimons staring back at him. "They were greater in number then I had expected."

Simply staring at his servant, Karatenmon showed no sign of caring about the information, instead his eyes focused on another shadow in the room. "Musyamon, you not only failed me, but cost me four supreme members of my army, and by your own hands." folding his arms in front of him, Karatenmon stared down at his servant as his head lowered again. "This is an act I will not allow, but you will be given a last chance, defeat the two children, or die trying."

Musyamon head snapped back up at the word, a look of disbelief on his face. "But, lord Karatenmon, I have served you faithfully, I." The slow drawing of his master's swords had the digimon lower his head again as fast as he could. "I understand master, I will not fail you. "

"See that you don't." Karatenmon replied without a sign of care, and then he focused his attention on another digimon in the room. "Gorillamon, the girl I sent you to hunt down, have you any news of her?"

Stepping forward and bowing like Musyamon, the huge digimon smirked as he shot a quick look over at the one who displeased the master even more then he had. "Yes my lord, I have tracked her to the capital of the Server Islands, File City." His eyes shining as he saw the glee on his masters face. "And, I have heard rumors of another human in the city as well, and this one, haven't found her partner digimon yet."

Standing up from his throne, a look of determination and victory filled Karatenmon's eyes. "Excellent, this means we can shot destroy two humans, with one move." A dark laughter filling the room as he turned around to leave the place, stopping only to address the second digimon standing before his throne. "Gorillamon, I leave the matter of the File City up to you, Musyamon, you will also head for the city, I suspect the two brats will show up to meet the others there. When you see them, destroy them "

"Yes, sir." Bowing in sync, the two digimons watched their master leave, a dark laughter bubbling up inside of them as well.

* * *

Staring ahead of him, Taichi did his best to ignore the constant flood of words coming from hid mother, the only interruption to it, came from his father whenever he felt like joining in the constant yelling as well. Off to the side, he could see Kari, Gatomon and Tailmon peeking in on his chewing out. 

Silently cursing Kari as she pulled her head back out after noticing his glare, Taichi returned his attention to his parents when he felt them glare even harder at him. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you, but I just had to get away from everything." Trying to give them a standard excuse he had read in some book, the messy haired boy cringed when he saw the look of absolute rage in his fathers face. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Struggling very hard to avoid smacking his son on the head, Susuko Yagami settled for clenching up his hands. "I don't care what you were feeling, if you ever, and I do mean ever, pull a stunt like that again, I will be forced to do more then just ground you." Glaring at his son as he finishing talking, the older didn't looked one bit disturbed by the glare he received back.

Opening his mouth to protest, Taichi shut it when he spotted the ice-cold glare in his mother's eyes. "And grounded is just what you are, and when that grounding ends, is something we will be thinking about, for the remaining time of this month."

Glaring hard at his parents, Taichi clenched up his owns hands under the table, silently wishing that he had just told his sister and her friends off. No kind of help was worth this. "Fine." Spitting out an answer as he stood up, Taichi glared over at the door opening, seeing the three pair of eyes quickly moving away. "And I'll use that time to consider when I will start talking to you two again."

Out in the hallway, Kari, Gatomon and Tailmon flinched at the sudden sound of a hand striking flesh. Clearly, the last part of that sentence hadn't been the best thing to say to them. Flattening his ears, as he looked back, Tailmon hissed in anger as he watched his partner run a finger over a new, bright red handprint on his left cheek.

The only thing stopping from running in to avenge his partner's injury, the sudden tackling from Gatomon as she struggled to hold him.

In the kitchen, Yuuko Yagami lowered her hand and used it to point at the kitchen door. "Go to your room right now, and I don't want to hear or see you until tomorrow morning, you got it young man?"

Not answering them, Taichi simply ripped the door open and stormed out of the room, sending a murderous glare at his sister as he passed by her and the two digimons. Then he walked into their shared room, slamming the door behind him.

Standing behind in the hallway, Kari dared a quick look down at Gatomon and Tailmon. "I, think it would be best if I stayed away from him." Her eyes turning towards Tailmon as he pushed Gatomon off. "Tailmon, you mind looking in on him?"

Getting a smirk on his face, the Gatomon like digimon walked over to the door. "Of course I will, I'm his partner, there's no way I'll turn my back on him at a time like this."

Staring after the white male feline digimon, Kari sighed a bit as she looked own at Gatomon. A tired and sad expression on her face as she picked up her own digimon partner. "I really messed up this time didn't I, maybe, they wouldn't have been so hard on him if I had helped to explain it."

Feeling the waves of doubt coming form her partner as she spoke, Gatomon looked up at her with a sad expression on her own face as she placed a paw on her partners shoulder for comfort. "It wouldn't have mattered if you did, in fact, it might have made it worse." Staring over at the door into Taichi and Kari's room, Gatomon sighed. "He would have been far more angry if you had stood up for him."

Lowering her head a bit, Kari hugged her partner digimon closer to her. "I know. It's just that, I wish it didn't have to be this way."

Closing her eyes at the sincerity in those words, Gatomon simply rested against her partner as she continued to hug her. "I know." Gatomon replied as Kari walked off towards the living room.

Inside the bedroom, Taichi grumbled a bit as he dropped down into the only chair, his feet resting on the desk as he stared out the window. Wondering for the untold time why he had chosen to go back with Kari and the others. Back to this boring world, when he could be there in the digital world right now, having an adventure.

Moving his attention away from the window as Tailmon entered the room, Taichi smiled a bit as his partner jumped up onto his lap. "Getting a bit heavy Tailmon, maybe you should cut back on the midnight snacking." A slight joking tone to his voice as Tailmon glared at him.

"Tailmon?" Taichi started before stopping, a look of doubt in his eyes as he gently stroked the feline digimons back with one hand. "Did we do, the right thing?"

Closing his eyes and settling down, Tailmon started to purr as he enjoyed the backrub. "Maybe, the others have agreed to help us in the fight with Karatenmon."

Eyes narrowing a bit, Taichi snorted at the mentioning of the other digi destined. "I don't need her help, Kari can stay with her group and deal with the emperor, I was chosen to fight Karatenmon, not her." His voice growing bitter as he stopped stroking Tailmon, choosing instead to let his hand rest on the feline digimons head as gently as he could. "So maybe I should have returned to the real world instead of just wandering around, but if I had, we wouldn't have met Michael and he had had to face Musyamon and those Kougamons alone."

Silence filled the room for a few seconds, then a small beeping sound made it know. Drawing the attention of both human and digimon to the small white object placed on the desk along with Taichi's D3. "Who'd mail me at this time?"

Watching as Taichi picked up the D-terminal, flipping it open with a disinterested expression on his face, Tailmon sighed with relief. At least his partner had been directed away form his angry thoughts. Then he tensed up as the look on his partner's face quickly turned into one of confusion as he read the message on the screen, then an excited one. "What, what's it say?"

Staring down at his partner, Taichi grinned and turned the D-terminal to face Tailmon. "It a message, from the Digimon Master."

Reading the screen, Tailmon's eyes narrowed as he read the message on it out loud. "Greeting's Taichi, I'm concerned with your lack of progress in reaching the Server Islands. Therefore I have moved a TV set into the center of the Islands, more precisely the city known as File City. Whenever you feel like going, just open the gate program on your computer, it will take you directly to it."

Closing the D-terminal when his partner stopped talking, the messy haired boy leaned back in his chair carefully. "Digimon Master." Speaking the words out with a curious note, Taichi dropped the D-terminal onto a nearby table. "This is the third time he's contacted me."

Tailmon nodded a bit as Taichi had told him about the mails that had led him both to Primary village and to that dark world. Both times it had been a message that had drawn them into a battle, first with Demidevimon, and then Karatenmon, both fights that had barely been won by them. "You're going to trust this so called Digimon Master?"

Rubbing a hand on his chin, the messy haired boy shrugged a bit. "Well, it does sound like a good deal. We get a means to reach the Server Islands instantly." The words filled with excitement as he spoke, then he grinned a bit as he stood up form the chair. "Best of all, we won't need Kari or her friends help anymore."

Rising an eye at that statement. Tailmon sat down on the floor and began to lick his paw gently. Waiting until his partner had stopped celebrating before talking. "And what about Michael and Betamon, are you going to accept their help?"

Looking down at his partner, Tai sighed a bit as he pulled back the cover on his bed. "Of course, you heard what Betamon said back on the beach, there are four chosen ones in the legend." Getting a bit of the happy look back as he dropped down onto the soft bed, he grinned a bit. "Besides, he was not as high and mighty acting as the others were."

* * *

A cold wind blew across the rooftops of Odaiba as lights began to flicker on here and there, the sun sinking down behind the ocean line, hidden beyond the tall buildings. On a flat, barren rooftop, a single person stood near the one ventilator in the whole place, a dark brown trench coat wrapped tightly around his body. 

Lifting his head, a smile graced his face as he closed the laptop. Tucking it away under his arm as he moved over to look down at the city below him. Watching as a few humans moved towards their home while the ones enjoying the nightlife began to come out. "How are things progressing on the other end?"

At his sudden question, two shadows moved out from behind the concrete railing running around the building, both of the small figures wearing a large pointed hat on their heads.

Turning his head slightly, the trench coat wearing person looked over at them. "Well, Sorcerimon, Witchmon?"

The wizard like digimon stepped forward at the second question, clenching his hand tightly around his staff. "Slowly, the human girl, Jun, reached File City today, but the false soverns noticed her before it was time." Holding shi breath, he watched as the human merely nodded a bit and refocused back onto the city below. "We managed to get her out, but it will be harder to free her digimon from the cells below the castle."

Holding up a hand, the human turned around and smirked a bit. "Do not worry about that, I have already made a back up plan in case of such an event." Then the smirk vanished as a frown formed instead. "The fourth member, do we have a lock on her position?"

Witchmon coughed a bit as she pushed Sorcerimon out of the way roughly. "Well, I stole the object from the temple of fire like you said, and gave it to her when she showed up." Getting a tired expression on her face, she faced him again. "And while we're at it, did we have to chose her of all the destined people out there?"

Simply sporting a sudden grin on his face, the trench coat wearing human turned his head to the side. "Well, I must admit it didn't take much research on her and her digimon to select them, but I do believe she was the best choice we had at the time." Coughing a bit, he stuffed both hands into his pocket. "Besides, I have the outmost confidence in her. And the information I gave her, should help them greatly in the digital world."

Getting an annoyed expression, Witchmon planted both her hands on her hips as she pouted a bit. "You mean I gave her, and while we're at that. Why am I the one who has to keep running around saving and handing out stuff to people?"

Smirking at her tone of voice, Sorcerimon shook his head a bit. "Because you're good at it." Then his face grew more serious as he looked at the human before him. "I hope you know what you're doing, if her brother find out what you have been up to, it won't be pretty."

Getting a concerned expression as well, the human man simply shook his head. "Yes, well. We have better hope that he can accept that his sister is needed for this plan." Then he gave a small humming sound. "What off her digimon partner?"

At this question, Socerimon grinned behind his cloak as he pushed Witchmon out of his way. "Yes, Flymon will only be needed for a few more hours. Long enough to get her to File City, her partner is waiting for her there."

"Good." The human man replied as he pulled the top part of his trench coat in closer to him. "All that's left now, is to hope that our chosen champions can stand up the tasks ahead of them." His voice sinking into a whisper, the man sighed a bit as he turned around. "Come, let's us depart. I have a task tomorrow that I can't avoid, and you two have to prepare to inform the children of the events that will transpire."

Bowing to the person, the two magic using digimon slowly floated through the air after the human, a curios, yet concerned look in their eyes as they watched the human city below.

* * *

Standing outside the closed, metal barred gate, Taichi Yagami stared up at the concrete and glass building with a tired expression. One of the many things he hadn't missed doing his track through the digital world was this place. In fact, he wouldn't have been here this early, if someone hadn't suspected him of trying to run away again. 

It was that way Michael found him a few minutes later. "Hey, Taichi!" yelling out a greeting to the messy haired boy as soon he got closer to him.

Turning his head slightly to the side, Taichi gave a half hearted greeting back as he struggled to avoid yawning in front of him. "Hey yourself Michael." Then he shook of the tiredness as he stood up a bit more. "How do you feel now, after yesterday?"

The blond haired boy shrugged a bit as he walked over the to the gates of the school, his bag slung lightly over his shoulder. "Well, it took Betamon meeting my father to stop him from sending me back to America." The blond grinned a bit as he looked up at the building before him. "Not that I would mind in the first place, this place is a bit to much, I can't believe you go to school on a Saturday."

"You don't in America?" Tai responded as they walked in through the front doors of the school. A thoughtful look on his face as he entertained the thought of sleeping in on two days of the week instead of just one, but it would most likely meaning he'd have to deal with Kari's constantly getting praised by their parents that much longer. "Strange."

Frowning a bit at the comment, Michael stopped as he looked down a nearby hallway, spotting a familiar group of kids sitting in a small group next to a table. "Hey, isn't that your sister and the other kids over there, the ones who saved us?"

Shooting a glance over to see them, Tai beat down a snort and settled for handling it as calmly as he could. "Oh, right, you want to talk with them?" His question leaving out no doubt that he wouldn't mind if they just walked right on and ignored the small group completely.

Slowing down to a stop next to the messy haired boy as he took in the tone of voice, Michael stared at the dead tired look on the boy's face, as he was busy staring at anything but his sister and her friends. Feeling that an explanation was needed, Michael grabbed Tai's shoulder and dragged him off to a more seclude spot.

Finding it a bit further down the corridor, he stopped and turned to face Tai as the boy began to massage some feeling back into his shoulder. "Okay, what is it with you and your sister, I've only seen someone talk of someone else with that level of hate in movies."

Not answering right away, Tai just continued to rub his shoulder, and then he finally gave a low sigh and leaned against the wall as he looked back in the direction they had come from. "I don't know if I hate her, or what she has become. Mom and Dad's precious little angel who saved them from the big bad monster."

Voice lazed with anger as he spoke, Tai noticed Michael blink a bit at his comment, clearly not understanding it completely, if at all. "It was about four years ago, Odaiba was taken over by a digimon called Myotismon, he capture every single resident he could, holding them as hostages to lure out the eight digi destined."

Closing his eyes, Tai's face got a rather dark smile on it as he tightened his hold on his bag. "I was stuck in town at the time, visiting my grandmother in order to relax." Smile fading away as he continued, Tao felt a bit of anger at them memory. "I had gotten injured in a soccer match a week before, and the doctor recommended I didn't move to much or there might be some trouble with it healing."

"Kari while having gotten a cold, was well enough to go to camp when vacation time started so she got to go while I had to stay behind." Voice faulting a bit at that part, Tai quickly forced it back under control, not wanting to bring out that dark time more then necessary. "Sora who was my best friend at the time also went to the camp and both of them were called to the digital world to help save it along with the other five."

"One of their enemies, Myotismon, came to the real world to find the eight digi destined, taking over the district by covering it in a mystic fog bank." Looking up with a slightly happy smile on his face, Tai grinned a bit at another memory that came back due to how close the two things had been. "Secondly, he captured as many humans he could, trying to see if one of them was the one he was looking for."

Tai would have continued his recount, if the class bell hadn't gone off at that moment, the loud constant ringing making both of the boys cringe as they noticed just how late they were going to be if they didn't hurry up.

As they left, Hojo Futabaki moved out from behind a door and stared off after them with a bit of a curious expression, but still with a trouble one as well, eyes intensely focused on both boys as they rounded a corner. "Digi Destined and a digimon called Myotismon, interesting story Mr. Yagami, very interesting indeed."

Staring out over the class with a look of pure authority as he pulled open the door, Hojo's gaze instantly caused the entire class to settled down and shut up like he expected them too when he entered the room. "Today we will continue the study of the warring states period, and the impact it had on the following eras." Speaking out the class plan for the day, he quickly scanned the room and marked down the names of the students, stopping as he spotted the student that had been absent for the last few days and the one with the interesting story. "Mr. Yagami."

Looking up as his name was called out, Tai stared at the indifferent looking teacher as he slowly noticed that he hadn't even noticed him come in, or gotten out the notes for the class. "Sorry, I was distracted by a personal thought."

Merely nodding in return as he watched Tai take out his books, Hojo shook his head. It wasn't rare to meet a student like that Yagami kid, he had a good head on his shoulders and could do better then he was currently doing, but like so many others he had met, he lacked the motivation to do more then just what he had too in order to get home a good grade.

Grabbing a piece of chalk, Hojo began to plot down some words on the black board. "If you're still paying attention Yagami, we've been covering the period of the warring states, we have covered the reasons for this periods unrest, and will continue today with the final years." Taking the chalk off the black board, he didn't turn around to see if the boy in question was listing. "And while you may have missed most of the information, I will still expected you to be able to answer when and if I ask you."

Getting no further comment from the teacher on his absence, Tai cast a quick look over at Michael, then down at the blond haired boy's notes, cursing under his breath as they was in English, and while he could speak the langue fairly decent, in his opinion that is, he had far more trouble reading it.

Resorting to letting his head hit the desk, he ignored the looks and comments he knew it would draw, this day was not going to be one of his better ones it seemed. The only hope left was that somehow faith would jump in and save him from suffering another period of holding water filled buckets in the hall.

"Class, has anyone seen or heard a reason for Miss Motomiya being absent today?" The sudden question from the teacher making him snap up again to at least look like he was paying attention, something which he had to do, Hojo had this air about him, that while he would show some restraint, you shouldn't expect to get it all the time.

And he really, really didn't want any more trouble for the day, he had to get back home as soon as he could, try out the new gate and stop Karatenmon. And if getting to do that meant listing to your military like teacher, he would do just that.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder at the same time, why was Jun absent from school, could she also be a? Forcing the thought down before it could even form, Tai focused on the teacher to avoid thinking about it again.

* * *

The flames of the fire flickered even higher up towards the ceiling of the room, while the birdman like digimon stared at it. "Tell me Karatenmon, do you have all four keys to my prison." The voice giving off a bit of a strained tone to it as it questioned Karatenmon on his progress. "I am growing increasingly tired of looking at the walls of my prison, wondering when I will be free once again." 

Bowing an extra time to the fire, Karatenmon pulled out the orb he had gotten a hold of already. "We have secured one my master, but an unexpected problem has shown itself." Placing the orb on the ground, the birdman like digimon stepped back away from the fire. "The chosen to stop us had arrived in this world, already I have battled with them, as has two of my servants."

"And you lost?" Came the demanding reply less then a second later as the fire moved forward to hover above the orb. "All of that will not matter in the end." Moving back to its original size, the fire seemed to lose some of it strength. "Karatenmon, gather all four keys here before I lose my patience. Unlock the doorway to my prison, and I'll end that legend before it can even start."

Stepping back, Karatenmon gulped as a dark laughter filled the room, chilling him to the core of his being. And behind that laughter, he could feel the power to back up the claims it had made. "As you wish my master, but I thought you only need three of the keys to be released."

Swirling around like a twisters, the fire expanded once again. "Three keys will weaken the prison, allowing me to break out, four will remove it completely." Moving around the birdman like digimon, the fire shifted into a darker version of itself. "Now go, bring me the other keys."

Bowing as he drew on his powers, Karatenmon lifted up into the air and slowly faded away. "As you wish, I will return with the next orb." Completely fading away as he finished speaking.

Moving back to the fire pit, the flames returned to a smaller version of themselves. "See that you do Karatenmon, my power may be great, but my patience is another matter." Laughing darkly again, the fire glowed as a large shadow formed above it, red eyes glowing as they fully focused on the orb before it. "Yes, already I can feel the presence of this orb weakening the seal, hurry up Karatenmon, I cannot wait to be free again."

* * *

Walking out the door of the school, Tai sighed as he cast a look up at the sky above him, the day had been a rather good one, despite the rotten start of it, and a few times here and there, but he had liked it. It had also helped to get some of the dark feelings from the past out into the open, maybe now Michael could understand why he rather not spend time with his sister. 

Not as if they had even complete their job, they had never found out who Myotismon had been looking for as far as he knew, Kari and her friends had been forced to handle several powerful digimons on their own, heck he could be that eight digi destined, but he seriously doubted it.

If he had been, he would have been called on to help them, not sit on the side lines and watch as everyone else protected his sister, his sister who had saved him, his parents and the world, something he had never done, and never could do.

Or so he had thought, but then he had called in to help fight against Milleniumon, but no one had believed that so he had stopped talking about it, but now they knew he was a digi destined, one of those chosen to fight against the dark digimon Karatenmon.

And then his sister showed up again along with her friends, rushing in to save them, and acting as if they were just a pair of children in need of protecting. And after that she would properly keep on insisting on helping him, somehow force either herself or one of her friends into his group to monitor them.

How did she expect him to learn how to handle not only himself, but also a group if he constantly had to have a chaperone following him everywhere, correcting him every single time he made a mistake, no one could learn anything if someone constantly told them what to do.

Breaking up his thoughts before they became too dark, he noticed that Michael, Kari and Sora were standing at the school gates, talking with each other. Stopping as he reached them, Tai didn't even cast a second glance at Sora or Kari, instead he focused on the blond haired boy. "Michael."

Staring back at Tai, Michael nodded a bit as he smiled. "There you are, I tried to find you doing the school breaks, but you just vanished each time."

Giving a half convincing smile back, Tai remembered having a desire to be alone for a rather long time after telling him about his past, for a chance to sort out how he felt about it, if the bitterness of his sister getting treated as a heroine, to see his parents talk about how great she had looked in the final battle, would fade a bit now that he was sharing these memories with someone else.

And how he and Sora had drifted apart, a pair of friends since their youngest days drifting apart because he didn't share in the special bond between his sister and her. Without the loss of a digimon like they had had to endure, he could never be a part of that group.

"I'm Sorry, but I had to think about something." Finally answering Michael's question, Tai secured his bag and gave a small nod at him. "I'll see you later right?"

Getting a slightly startled look on his face as he realized just what Tai would have been thinking about, Michael quickly grinned a bit sheepishly. "Sure, I'll be over as soon as I've gotten permission from my dad to do so." Seeing Tai's questioning look, he shrugged a bit. "Hey, he didn't let me go completely, I'm still under tight supervision for just disappearing like that."

Opening his mouth to answer, Tai stopped as he noticed Kari staring at him from her place at the gate. "What?" His voice carrying a bit of the anger he felt at her from the past few years.

Blinking her eyes, as she felt slightly hurt by the angry tone of her brother, Kari took a deep breath and focused herself on the task of getting her brother to tell what had really happened the other day. "Tai, we're heaving a meeting over at Izzy's place, we were going to discuss the treat of the Digimon Emperor, but we've decided to add in the evil digimons you and Michael have been fighting, so if you would join us, we'd be more then happy to give you some advice on how to fight them."

Nodding a bit in agreement, Sora smiled at her old friend, wondering if getting a digimon would have caused him to calm down and forget that stupid grudge he had been carrying against her and Kari for last few years. "Yeah, We'd be more then happy to help you fight Karatenmon, after all the more we are, the bigger a chance we have of winning."

Giving them both a tired and annoyed look, Tai shook his head a bit as he began to walk away. "Thanks but no thanks, I think I can handle it without you two." Looking over his shoulder as he felt someone move to stop him, he looked right into Sora's eyes as she moved back again. "I can handle it, I know I can so just stay out of this."

Watching her brother walk away from them, Kari's left eye got a slight tick to it as she planted both her hands on her hips. "I can handle it, who does he think he is? No one can win a fight on their own."

Standing with a slightly amused expression Sora shook her head a bit as she faced Michael. "Sorry, but it's just, for a moment I was reminded of something long ago." Staring back in the direction that Tai was walking in, Sora grinned a bit as she noticed that he wasn't walking very fast. "Well, I think we've taken too much of your time, better hurry up if you want to make it to your meeting Michael."

Looking a bit unsure at her, he finally gave in and nodded as he moved to see if he coudl catch up with Tai. The anger that the messy haired boy had for his sister could be a problem if it wasn't dealt with soon enough. The last thing anyone needed was open war between Tai and the older digi destined.

Left behind, Sora cast a look over at Kari. "Well, we'd better get over to Izzy for our meeting as well." Pushing gently on Kari's shoulder when she didn't move or answer her. "Kari, you okay?"

"Idiot." Word spat out, Kari turned and stomped off, her bag clenched tightly to her body. "We offer to help him and he insults us, I don't care who he think he is, if he's always that hotheaded he'll get into a lot of trouble."

Feeling Sora plant a hand on her shoulder, Kari looked up to see her smiled down at her. "And he'll find a way out of it, he has handled it on his own for this long, and while I agree it's not wise for him to run around on his own all the time." Sora's voice took on the carrying level it had back in the digital world as she spoke to the younger girl. "I think he's learned something already, that one should be prepared before running off."

Giving Sora the what-are-you-talking about look, she shook her head a bit. "And that's a good thing, how about the other things we could have told him about, like what digimons to trust and." The rest of her sentence was cut off a finger was placed on her lips by Sora.

"He's going to be fine." Sora muttered out as she looked down at Kari. "I managed to give Michael my mail address, so if they get into trouble, he's knows who to call." Voice slightly amuse as she spoke, she looked over her shoulder. "And besides, Tai doesn't want to listen to us talk about the old days."

Not even answering that remark, Kari stomped off with Sora walking behind her, her whole body trying to figure out why her brother kept on rejecting the helps she and her friends could him, the knowledge they had gotten in the past could come in handy, no one else had fought as many evil digimons as them, no one.

* * *

Staring up at the city's skyline above her, Jun sighed as she tried to think of something to do, just walking around no longer had any merit to it, and her whole day was looking rather darker by the moment, as more then once, she had seen several digimon looking at her for longer then she had wanted or expected. 

The conversation she had overheard on the castle yesterday was also still fresh in her mind, the way those two digimons had talked together hadn't given her any hope that they would be likely to help her. And since they had sounded like the leaders of this city, she expected several digimons to be looking for her as well.

Somehow, she ha expected that life as a fugitive would be a lot more glamorous then this, constantly looking over her shoulder to see if she was being followed, spending the night sleeping behind a building hoping not to be caught. But ranking in as the most annoying thing about her status as a fugitive was the nothing to eat part of it.

Holding a hand over her grumbling stomach, Jun blushed as a few nearby digimons turned to face her with curious expressions on their faces. "Sorry." Mumbling out the comment Jun took of walking as fast as she could, making sure to keep walking towards the other end of the square she was facing.

From the bits of conversation she had picked up there was a restaurant somewhere at the end of it, and no matter how dangerous it was, she wanted to see if she could get something to eat, either by begging or working for it, in the worst case scenario, she would have to steal it.

Walking further into the square, she didn't notice the wizard like digimon keeping a firm eye on her from his place beneath a buildings window. Tapping one hand onto his hat the digimon stood up and kicked another digimon hiding nearby, this one busy petting a black cat that was rubbing up against her. "She passing the square, and heading for the business area. Really, what is she thinking, there are more guards in that place then anywhere else."

Shrugging a bit as her cat settled down to rest on her hat, Witchmon stared after Jun as well, with one of her hands curled around her trusted broom in a loving way. "Maybe she's just hungry you know, she didn't get anything to eat since she was brought here you know."

Smirking slightly as she hovered up into the air, Witchmon looked down at Sorcerimon with a bored expression. "And I do believe it your turn to make contact with her." Waving a hand at the young wizard like digimon, she took off flying, already late for her own meeting in the other end of the town.

She had to be ready for when the heroes arrived, and make sure that the last member of the group was ready to meet them, and besides, Sorcerimon could do with some extra work. He was getting far to lazy in her opinion anyway. "Meet you outside the drunken digimon bar."

Scowling as Witchmon left, Sorcerimon grabbed his staff and prepared to follow after Jun, stopping only when he spotted two familiar digimon talking at the other end of the square as well, both of them looking rather mad at having the other one along. "Damn, what are they doing here?"

Moving fast to avoid getting spotted by Gorillamon and Musyamon as they split up, Sorcerimon kept looking right ahead of him, putting one foot in front of the other while trying to spot the reddish brown messy hair style of the human girl he had to find.

Sometimes it couldn't pay to be on the side of good, there was far to much work involved in it. And with that pleasant thought, Sorcerimon turned around the corner and spotted Jun standing just up ahead, with her arms raised up over her head and yelling for them to spare her life.

Looking further ahead of her, Sorcerimon began to swear as well as he could, his eyes narrowing as he saw the two Kingtmons taking up guarding positions around Jun, yelling out that she was under arrest and would be brought to the arena by orders of the earth sovern Panjyamon.

As they left in a orderly fashion with Jun walking in between them, Sorcerimon slapped a hand onto his face, cursing the day even more as he noticed something else he hadn't wanted to see. "Great, and now he's here as well, can anything else go wrong?"

Not looking down at the wizard like digimon as he passed him, Panjyamon allowed himself to smirk, already one of the four legendary digi destined had been capture and brought to the arena. And in those fighting pits, he had no doubt that she would be proven to be nothing more then a failure.

No one could ever beat him and the other sovern, no one. They had been chosen to rule the Server Islands on the day that the original soverns had been lost, each of them in charge of an elemental temple and the balance of the islands. There was no way four humans would ever be able to change that, not in his lifetime.

Across the town, Witchmon tapped her foot as she looked around at the skyline of the city, trying to see if Flymon was going to show up anytime soon. The digimon was carrying something precious for the cause, and she was not going to stand by and watch, as it was lost because of one digimon's mad ambition.

Finally spotting the growing area in the distance, Witchmon smiled as she prepared to greet the young human girl, before frowning as something else caught her attention, something down on the ground. "Not now." Stepping back, Witchmon growled a bit as she began to fly off.

For all of her boosting, she wasn't a match for one of Karatenmon's elite warriors in a one on one fight; she would need some kind of backup. And there was only one kind she could think of at the moment, but would they get there in time, and how could she convince them, the blond haired boy was sure to be more then a bit angry with her.

* * *

Landing heavily on the ground, Tai, Tailmon, Michael and Betamon could stare as several confused digimons looked back at them from various places around them. But what really had Tai staring were the buildings behind them; towering up much like they did back home, but not as tall of course, and the mixture of building styles seemed to have come from all over the world. 

Pushing the blond haired boy off, Tai stood up and coughed a bit as he felt just where he had landed on the rough street, as his D3 had been pushed into his side as he landed. "I take it the gate worked?" came the mumbled comment as he swept his messy hair back in place. "But I didn't expect it to drop us off in the middle of a town."

"I'll say." Michael agreed as he too stood up, Betamon sitting in his arms. "But I still don't understand how you knew the gate could take us here, that guy, Izzy, he hadn't." Trailing off, Michael blinked as he spotted someone familiar smirking at him from just across the street. "You?"

Tipping her head slightly, Witchmon gave a dark laugh before turning and running off, her hat dangling dangerously close to falling off as she felt her body lift off from the ground, her powers allowing her to glide through the air as her broom formed below her.

Rushing off after her, Michael felt his D3 fall into his hands as he struggled to see just where the witch like digimon was flying towards, while also keeping a clear mind as to why she was staying in the open so much if she was running away from him. "Get back here you witch!"

Looking back at the blond haired boy, Witchmon gave a loud crackling sound before pulling down slightly on her left eyelid and sticking her tongue out at him. "You want me Blondie, you'll have to catch me first!" Even as she spoke, she noticed how his digivice began to glow. "Oh yeah, that's the way boy!"

Feeling power rush into him from where he was struggling to keep up with his partner, Betamon allowed it to fill him, as his digivolved champion form was faster and better adapted to chasing someone down then his rookie form. "Betamon digivolve too." Growing several sizes bigger, the small frog/fish like digimon turned into a sea dragon like being that filled most of the street easily. "Seadramon!"

Left behind, both Tai and Tailmon stared at the scene left behind by their friends, before taking off as well, the two of having an easier time keeping up with the blond haired boy then Betamon had had.

And hidden in the shadows, a large digimon gave a deep growled as he kept a close on the two boys and their digimons, it was rather unexpected to see them sow up so easily, but a welcome surprise. Now they would have three players in the arena, and not just one.

Stepping out into the light as he began to laugh, Panjamon didn't waste much time deciding how to follow the humans kids as he had to chase them down, but instead of running along the ground, the lion man like digimon took to the rooftops, clearing the distance with several jumps from one wall to the other, finally reaching the top of a building after a few seconds.

Jumping onto Seadramon as he passed, Michael kept staring at Witchmon as she blew him a kiss of all things, her eyes twinkling with amusement before flying closer to him. "Wow, you must really want me to go to such lengths." Voice full of laughter as she spoke, she quickly moved to stand on Seadramon, right in front of Michael. "But you don't have time to be chasing me boy."

Pointing a finger into the distance, her eyes became serious as her whole demeanor took on a level of business Michael had only seen in his father when he tried to get a better salary out of the movie directors. "What do you mean?"

Planting a finger on her lower lip while closing one eye, Witchmon leaned in closer to Michael while grinning. "I would have thought you'd be more busy looking for your other two members?" Standing up and pointing with her broom in a northwestern direction, her eyes filled with amusement again. "One of them is currently getting chased by a servant of Karatenmon in this city, and the other one is trapped below the arena by the false soverns."

Floating off the back of the sea dragon like digimon as the head turned to look at her, Witchmon gave a quick salute at the blond haired boy below her. "Till next time, and remember, you haven' much time in which to save her." Giving a final round of laughter, Witchmon flung out her free hand and grinned as several multi colored burst of lights went off from her fingertips, forcing the boy to look away form him. "TaTa!"

Clenching up his hand, Michael snapped his head around to see something strange, Tai sitting on the back Lynxmon as the large fiery lion like digimon stopped on a nearby rooftop. "Tai, how can you?" Pointing a finger at the digimon, he blinked as the messy haired boy grinned back at him. "Never mind that, listen up, Witchmon told us the next member of our group is in trouble, we got to hurry up."

Nodding back at him, Tai whipped out his D3 and stare down at it, a small red dot blinking in the upper right corner of it. "I got another signal coming in alright, but its a good deal away from here, we'll have to hurry if we want to get there." Yelling out a direction for Lynxmon, Tai barely had a second to grab a hold of the flame covered digimon before they went off running again, with the brown haired boy looking back over his shoulder at his blond comrade. "Follow us!"

Barely hearing the last words, Michael nudged Seadramon to make him follow after Tai, his eyes closing a bit to guard against the level of wind resistance he had to endure as the digimon took off running as fast as it could. His eyes turning to blink as he almost thought he saw someone following them for a second, but a second glance revealed nothing but rooftops behind them.

Jumping across the rooftops form the other direction, Musyamon kept staring down at the digimons below him, smirking as he noticed several of them starting to panic for some reason, the reason soon showing itself as the small form of an young human trying to force its way down the street became clear. "You're mine!"

Jumping down as he pulled out his favorite sword, Musyamon laughed darkly as the girl noticed his shadow while she heard his yell, starting to turn around to face her doom, as he knew she would. "Ninja Blade!"

"Thermal Mane!"

"Ice Blast!"

Colliding in mid air, the three attacks exploded in a sphere of melted ice and steam as fire collided with hot air and ice chunks, the street below taking the blunt force of the after match.

Landing on the street in a battle ready stance, Musyamon cast a quick look up as he noticed two figures standing dramatically in the sunlight, nothing more then the outlines of human bodies visible to him. "You two!" But that was all he needed to see, those two bodies had become far to familiar to him lately. "I'll kill you for causing me to be humiliated before Karatenmon."

Smirking down at him, Tai laughed as he saw Lynxmon land safely before the human girl and guarding him. "You are more then welcome to try Musumon, but I doubt you can win this time."

Next to him Michael nodded as he held out his D3 at him. "We're ready for you this time around, and you have no one to help you fight us." Voice mocking as he spoke, Michael looked up to see Seadramon block off the other end of the street. "And Seadramon and me has a score to settle with you."

Staring right back at them without losing any of his composure, Musyamon simply stood straight up as his free hand moved down to grab a hold of the handle of his sword as well, tilting it to allow light to gleam of the blade. "Very well then brats, I accept your challenge, but be warned, I will leave none of you alive."

Moving into action as he uttered out the last word, Musyamon wasted no time in kicking Lynxmon in the face, using the momentum to rebound back towards the charging Seadramon. "Shogun Sword!" A sharp blade of light shooting out in a half arc as his sword cut through the air.

Twisting his body around to avoid the attack, Seadramon growled as he opened his mouth to fire off a counter attack, the samurai like digimon still flying towards him. "Ice Blast!" The attack hitting nothing but empty air and a small wooden log as Musyamon vanished into thin air. "A ninja trick!"

Popping back out of thin air on the sea dragon like digimons back, Musyamon laughed as he lifted up his sword to deliver a strike right into the neck portion of the body. "Goodbye fool, Ninja!"

"Thermal Mane!" As the yell echoed through the street, the samurai like digimon looked up in time to life his blade up as a shield, but not escaping the full fire attack as Lynxmon landed on Seadramon's back as well, the flames making up his body flickering up even higher. "You will not harm him, do you hear me?"

Allowing a bored look to reach the fiery lion like digimon, Musyamon simply jumped back down onto the street as another cone of fire shot past the place where he had just been. "You two are really stupid, throughout this whole battle, you have barely even hurt me."

Speaking with a bored voice, Musyamon spun around and lifted up his sword as he cast a dark look up at Michael and Tai, grinning as the two humans back away. "What this battle need is a higher stake." Slashing out and sending a wave of power into the building, his laughter echoed through the air as he watched the human children begin to fall down as well. "And what better way to do that, then place your partners in danger."

"Electric Thread!"

Screaming loudly in annoyance, rather then pain as the highly charge web snapped onto his foot. Musyamon spun around to see the young girl and digimon he had been hunting to begin with moving back into hiding. "You little brat, I'll." The rest was forgotten as Seadramon soared by over him, catching Tai and Michael on his back before they could hit the ground. "Hey!"

Picking up the sound of four paws hitting the ground rapidly from behind, Musyamon spun around with his sword held out to defend him, or he tried to as all he managed to see was the lower part of Lynxmon as the fiery lion like digimon jumped up over him. "Wild Nail Rush!"

Screaming in shock and pain, the Samurai like digimon felt the full brunt as nine fireballs impacted him and the ground from above, his sword not even able to shield him from the attack. "You bastard." Staggering around to face Lynxmon swearing as the lion like digimon landed, Musyamon lifted up his sword, and blinked as something large, blue and golden in color shot down from above, its jaws wide open as something glinted inside of them. "No."

"Ice Blast!" Letting lose with the most powerful attack he could, Seadramon's eyes glinted as each chuck of ice hit Musyamon right in the upper chest and head region, the samurai like digimon's sword getting tossed away through the air as the frozen water mixed in with his ice chucks knocked it away.

Then he felt the small digimon scream in pain as he was finally thrown back through the air from the force of his attack, hitting the wall of a nearby building with a sickening crack that made him cringe a bit, but only a bit.

Staring in a bit of a different way from his place on Seadramon's back, Michael had to close his eyes and turn away as Musyamon fell back down to the earth, his body almost peeling off the wall he had impacted, with a few bits of the wall falling down with him. "I, I didn't expect it to be like this."

Barely hearing him, Tai simply stared at it, not sure what to feel as part of him was cheering over having won his first true battle without help from his sister or her friends, or sickness over the way Musyamon were just laying there breathing heavily after losing.

Hadn't his sister once told that digimons turn into some kind of dust after dying, that they couldn't really die since they were always reborn at Primary Village, so killing them wasn't like killing a human. So why was he feeling like he had just beaten up a human, and were simply watching him die from his wounds.

Stepping closer to the fallen digimon as they slid down form Seadramon's back, Tai cleared his throat a bit as he looked down at him. "So, I guess we win this round huh?" Trying to smile a bit in the end, Tai stopped when he felt the digimon look at him. "So, where is Karatenmon, you know the goy you work for?"

"Karatenmom will rule these Islands, and the age of Mystimon will come to pass." Spitting out a bit of digital blood, Musyamon coughed as he felt his body grow cold, clearly the final attacks had completely drained him to the point where there was no turning back. "You all fought brave, I am proud to die this way, the way of a warrior."

Getting a slightly confused expression on his face, Tai cast a look over at Michael as the boy nodded solemnly at the fallen digimon. "You understand what he meant by that last bit?"

Face turning a bit grim, Michael smiled sadly at Tai as he turned to face him. "There's a saying in the west, he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword." Turning to face Musyamon again, he gave a small nod. "I'm guessing he hoped to die like a warrior, fighting."

Smirking a bit at the blond haired boys words, Musyamon slowly began to laugh. "Indeed, fighting is everything to me, from the moment I was hatched I knew fighting was the way of my life." Eyes dimming a bit, the tall samurai like digimon lifted up his sword and gave a salute with it at Michael and Tai. "You two fought well together, but next time we meet, it shall be me who win."

And with those words, Musyamon's eyes dimmed until they were completely dark and his sword fell to the ground, clanging loudly as it hit the bricks making up the road. "Farewell, digi destined." A second later, his body broke down into a cloud of digital data that drifted away into the sky above them.

Staring at the place where his former enemy had been, Tai felt a wave of pride run through him as him and his team had finally beaten a digimon, but he still felt a small regret knowing that the victory had demanded the life of a digimon to be achieved. "You fought well too Musyamon, maybe we will meet again."

"Thank you for saving me."

Turning around, Tai and Michael were met by the girl who smiled at them as she stepped up closer. "Thank you for the help, if you hadn't shown up, I could have." Bowing a bit to show her gratitude, she stood up again and gave her best smile. "I'm Noriko, and this is my partner, Kunemon, nice to meet you all at last."

Staring halfway confused at her, both Tai and Michael turned to look at one another as if they didn't believe what they had just heard. "You have been expecting us?" Tai finally blurted out as he cast a non-believing look at her. "But how, we only learned of you because of what Witchmon told us."

Looking down at the group form the top of his hiding place, Panjyamon didn't know if he should smirk or growl at what he had just seen, those two humans and their pet digimons had defeated a high ranking member of Karatenmon's army. Maybe they were not such an easy to beat group of loser anyway.

Face twisting into a sick smirk, the large lion man like digimon stood up and grinned darkly as he cast a look up at the sky above him. "Truly, they have great strength, but I wonder if they will survive the arena." Drawing his sword as he spoke, Panjyamon cast a look down at the group. "Or should I end their misery right now and just kill them, it is all up to me to determine if the legends come true or not."

Staring into the street, his lips pulled back and revealed his sharp teeth as he jumped off the roof and into the street below him. "Time to see how brave these destined children really is."

Turning around at the sudden yell and sound of Panjyamon landing, the three kids and their stumbled back to see the digimon towering up over them, one short sword held out in a fighting position as he stalked closer to them. "Hear this, I am Panjyamon, the ruler of the Island of Earth and sovern of the west, face me in battle digi destined, in a fair battle within the arena, or face your death now."

Stumbling backwards, Tai cast a look up at the tall digimon as he kept coming closer to him and the group. "Witchmon didn't say anything about him."

"But I think it's safe to say he's not our friend." Michael added in as he watched the light glint of the sword blade as it moved forward ever so slowly. "More then safe actually"

Staring down at the two humans, Panjyamon's face split into a dark grin. "So, will you fight valiantly in the arena, or do I have to get violently disappointed?"

TBC: All together at last part I.

AN: A shorter chapter for this story then normal, and witha part looking far more rushed then it should, I could explain it with some excuse, but I'll befranka nd tell you that I just wasn't feeling up to writing that scene. This story should now be back on tracks again, and coming out with no problems involved in it, if not, feel free to mail me and ask why it isn't updated, just remember I have a life, other stories to work on, so I can't throw out a chapter like this every day, or week for that matter.


	6. part VI

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Summery: AU.

* * *

A lone digi destined  
Part VI  
All together at last part I. 

* * *

Looking out into the dark, damp and rather cold cell he had just been pushed into by a Knightmon, Michael turned to regard his teammate and somewhat leader get pushed in right behind him. "This is not going very well is it?" His simple comment making the messy haired boy frown lightly at him.

Ignoring the other boy with him for the moment, Tai turned to see the third member of their get pushed in as well, stumbling a bit before Michael grabbed her. "Well, we're still alive, so it's not a complete loss, we just have to find a way out and we'll be fine."

"Yagami, of course." The comment breaking through Tai's rant as the words were spat out form the other end of the cell, the owner of the voice stepping out into the light a second later, one hell of an angry expression on her face. "You know, I kept telling myself that this couldn't be your fault, that I had heard wrong, but now I can clearly see, that it really is your fault."

The last of her words were followed by the messy haired girl launching herself at him with a scream, nails held out to scratch his eyes out, rip open his throat, or just make him pay for what he had gotten her put through, even id he hadn't been there.

Tai wasn't really sure what she was ranting about, but still decided to at least hold her away from him before he got anymore bruises then he really wanted at the moment. "A little help would be nice." The sarcastic remark spat out at Michael as Tai did his best to keep the homicidal Jun away from him got the blond haired boy to snap out of his shock and into action.

Grabbing Jun's wrists and pulling her away, Michael looked over at Tai as the messy haired boy stumbled back a bit. "Maybe you should move a bit away Tai, and let me talk with her, or at least calm her down." The comment added on in the end as Jun struggled to get free and continued her throttling of Tai.

Wisely deciding to keep his mouth shut and agree with the blond haired boy on that point, Tai moved back a bit and shook his head as he sat down on a small stone bench, grimacing at how damp and cold it was. "Well, it can only get better from now on."

Tapping one hand against the stone surface of the bench, Tai shuddered as he noticed Jun glaring at him, the sight reminding him of the one time had faced Karatenmon, the digimon had looked at him the same way right after he had gotten his digimon partner to digivolve for the first time.

Sighing, Tai wondered how his digimon partner was doing, the small white feline was properly still out cold after getting pummeled by Panjyamon.

Staring down at the two humans, Panjyamon's face split into a dark grin. "So, will you fight valiantly in the arena, or do I have to get violently disappointed?"

Stepping back, Tai froze as Panjyamon's face split into a frown, his head moving up to stare at Lynxmon as the fiery lion like digimon stalked forward. "You might be disappointed fur ball, but I think that getting away from you will make us happy."

Above them, the twisting form of Seadramon moved closer, aiming his head to be able to take down Panjyamon from the side if he had too. "Whoever you are, you can't just expect us to surrender just because you order it."

Simply glancing as the sea dragon like digimon, Panjyamon slowly allowed a smirk to form on his face as he lifted up one hand, a faint blue light forming around it. "You're right about that Seadramon, but in this case, I suggest you get used to it, for I do not take no for an answer."

Moving forward one more step, Lynxmon allowed the fire covering his body to grow a lot brighter and hotter. "Then maybe, you will accept this as an answer, Thermal Mane!" A sheer wall of fire rushing towards Panjyamon at the last word from the lion like digimon, the heat of it making the air ripple around it.

Slipping into a battle stance as soon as Lynxmon yelled out his attack, Panjyamon growled as he lashed out with the glowing fist in the direction of the wave of fire. "Ice Beast Fist!" A sudden surge of the blue light shooting off form his fist as it finished punching the air, the light taking on the shape of a lions head before it hit the wave of fire,

Stepping back in shock, Lynxmon barely managed to duck the attack as it shot over him to impact a nearby wall after ripping through his fire and putting it out. "How, how." came the slightly fear filled question as he noticed a layer of ice covering the wall Panjyamon's attack had hit. "An ultimate."

In the air, Seadramon took in the information as well, feeling his fighting spirit fade a bit at the thought of having to fight an Ultimate, and right after they had defeated a powerful champion digimon no less. "Maybe, Lynxmon, get ready to attack now!" Moving forward, Seadramon snapped his mouth open as a beam of ice-cold water and ice shot out. "Ice Blast!"

On the ground, Lynxmon rushed forward as he powered up his most powerful attack for the second time that day. "Wild Nine Rush!" At his yell, nine white-hot fireballs shot off towards Panjyamon at the same time as Seadramon ice beam had almost reached the ultimate level digimon.

Eyeing both attacks, Panjyamon moved into action, his legs kicking of form the ground and propelling him up into the air as fire and ice hit each other beneath him, the resulting explosion of steam hiding the street from view. "You two are the chosen digimons of legend, don't make me laugh."

Ripping out his sword, Panjyamon slashed out with it, cutting Seadramon across the back with it as he powered an attack through it. "Cold Attack!" Seadramon responding with a scream as ice-cold temperature ripped across his whole body along with a layer of heavy ice that dragged his down onto the street with a loud crash.

Running down the light of Seadramon as he fell down, Panjyamon smirked as he saw Lynxmon still staring in the direction of where he had been attacking Seadramon just a few seconds before. "You want to stand a chance against me little one, you have better shape up your act, Ice Beast Fist!"

Snapping his head around, Lynxmon let out a scream as he saw Panjyamon jump off the suddenly de digivolving Seadramon, his lion shape frost attack already heading towards him. "No!" Then it was over as he felt the fire on his body get blow out as his power was blown away by a rush of intense cold. "Tai, I'm sorry."

Watching in horror, Tai looked up as Panjyamon sheathed his sword with a calm motion, one foot moving out to kick up Tailmon from the ground rather harshly. "Tailmon, Tailmon talk to me."

Looking up with a weak moan, Tailmon shook as he could still feel a bit of the cold run through him. "Tai, I am sorry, I can't beat him, not yet." At the last word, the blue eyes closed at Tailmon's head fell down limply as a moan escape form his mouth.

"Tailmon!" The scream filled the alley as Tai hugged the white feline digimon close to him.

That was less then an hour ago, now he was sitting here in a dungeon below an arena, his digimon taken from him and tossed into a different cell along with Betamon and Kunemon. And he was now here along with Michael, Noriko and Jun.

Lifting up his head, he noticed that Jun had stopped glaring and settled for leaning against the wall as Michael had gone over to talk with Noriko who had remained rather silent the whole time. "It wasn't my fault you know."

Glancing over at his comment, Jun blinked her eyes in a bored fashion and sat up more straight and tapped one finger against her leg as she just stared at him. "And how do you figure that, from what Michael told me you were meant to find us and lead us."

"I wasn't" Tai replied in a slightly less confident tone of voice, sighing a bit before he stood up and walked over to stand nearby her. "All of this stuff with me started when I entered the Digital World about a month ago." Seeing her stare at him with a go on look in her eyes, Tai gave a small sigh. "I ended up in Primary Village where I met my partner and defeated a digimon called Demidevimon, after that, things went downhill, an evil digimon Karatenmon attacked me claiming I was destined to defeat him."

Jun nodded a bit, Michael had at least briefly mentioned a few of the things Tai had told him, but it still felt better to get the full explanation from the messy haired boy himself. "And he did something to you, didn't her."

Looking away, Tai bit his lip as he tried to block out the words Karatenmon had spat after him when he escaped form that dark place, and the evil digimon. "He poisoned me, making sure I wouldn't run away, but show up to face him." At the words, he noted Jun look a bit shocked, but quickly hid it. "I tried to find out where he was, and was first given directions to a digimon that might have the answers I needed, but it was no good."

Turning to face them, Michael could clearly hear everything that Tai said. "That must have been around the time I showed up, I met Tai after having getting tossed into this world." Michael added in as he saw her nod in remembrance. "That was when we learned that our team would consist of four members."

Sighing in a tired way, Jun pushed off from the bench and stood up. "And I'm one of those members I take it." She finally questioned and saw them nod in response. "Figures, so how do you fit in?"

Noriko stared up at Jun as the older messy haired girl pointed one finger at her, a stern look in her eyes as she slowly lowered it. "Look, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Jun began to mutter out as she miss took Noriko's silence for something else.

Shaking her head a bit, Noriko smiled her best and looked around at each of the human children she was sharing the cell with. "It's okay, I should explain it anyway." Standing up, Noriko gave a small bow at each of them. "I am Noriko Matsuda, youngest child in my family, and the outsider in my school." Her words turn frosted at the last as her eyes flashed in an annoyance.

"One day as I walking home form school, I saw this weird guy sitting on a swing at my old playground." Her voice turned a bit hesitant at that part, a far off distant look entering her eyes. "I was just passing by, when he asked me if I was still dreaming of a small digimon that needed my help."

Holding up a hand to interrupt her, Jun gave her a curious glance. "This guy, did he have a white wizards hat on his head, and a white robe and a cape with stars on the inside of it?"

Noriko closed her eyes for a bit, trying to remember the guy clearly, finally opening them again. "No, he was wearing a long dark trench coat, and was holding a laptop." Seeing Jun lean back a bit, she continued on with her story. "As I was opening my mouth to answer him, he interrupted me and said he could help me find Kunemon, and all I need to do was hold onto this digivice and wish with all of my heart to find him."

Tai nodded a bit as he found it to be far too similar to what he had received on his computer that first day this crazy adventure had started. It was something he hadn't expected to be remembered about, but bow that he had, it sounded rather creepy now that he thought back on it. "The Digimon Master."

Noriko gave a small start at that comment, shooting Tai a rather suspicious look as she saw him grow distant while thinking about something. "After I touched the digivice, I was engulfed by a powerful white light, and awoke on the Server Island, outside the temple of Fire."

"Temple of Fire." Jun muttered out with a slightly disbelieving look on her face. "Sounds like something out of one of Davis's RPG's." Seeing all of them glance at her, she blushed a bit and giggled. "Sorry, just carry on with your story Noriko."

"As interesting a story as it is." Came the scratching and mocking comment from Apemon as he stepped out in front of the barred door leading into the cell, one hand slowly dragging his bone club across the bars of the doorway. "There is no time for it, your first battle in the arena will begin now."

Smirking as he saw them shrink back, he pointed over at Jun and grinned as he saw her go pale. "You, the last member of the four chosen ones, we have waited for you, and so have your partner." Unlocking the cell door, he grinned as he saw each of the four humans children stand up with a tense look to them. "Now, follow me, and I'll take you to the arena, so you can experience your final moments alive together. And no heroics, without your digimons, you won't stand a chance against me."

Almost spitting out and insult, Tai pushed it down with a look of venom in his eyes as he turned to regard the others standing behind him. "He's right you know, we won't stand a chance." But even as he said this, his eyes turned to one of confidence as he noted each of them look back at him with a small hint of trust.

They may not have a chance now, but who was to say one wouldn't show up along the way.

* * *

Spread out before them, the arena was modeled after a roman coliseum; a tall wall surrounded an oval pit filled with gravel, only broken by a large double doorway in each end. The doors had metal bars covering them to prevent a digimon from enter the arena before time.

Built at the top of the pit walls, seats rose up in nine rows on each side, ending with yet another wall, this one sporting a statue on top placed in each of the worlds corners, north, south, east and west. And below the biggest statue sat the rulers' seats, a grand terrace with a small railing around it holding them up well beyond the fighting ground.

And seated comfortably on the center place, sat two of the current present members of the sovern regents as they had started to call themselves recently and one representative of the last sovern regent.

Skullmeramon representing fire sat at the very edge of the seat, with Panjyamon next to him, and the tall lion man like digimon was seated next to a small female digimon who looked increasingly bored with each passing minute. "Tell me, Lady Ranamon?"

At her name, the digimon looked up with a startled expression, her eyes turning to regard Skullmeramon who simply stared at her with an unnerving gaze. "Yes, Lord Skullmeramon, what is it?" Hr voice rather timid sounding as she muttered out a reply to his question, her eyes turning to view Panjyamon who had chosen to ignore the conversation.

Ignoring the lack of respect that the young digimon refused to show by looking away from him, Skullmeramon leaned back a bit in his seat. "Your mistress, Mermaimon, what troubles her so much that she is unable to attend a council meeting, even a rather hasty called one."

This comment did get Panjyamon's attention as he lowered his eyes to each of them in turn. "You two, you would do well in remembering that a threat to our rule has shown up." Turning to face Ranamon, he grumbled lowly as he saw her curious glance and slightly worried expression. "Humans have shown up in File City, and there are reports on others from the Server continent, your mistress is most likely making sure none has shown up in her domain."

Ranamon nodded as one hand went up to cover her mouth, her memory already going over the once wildly discussed legend that four humans would restore balance to the Server Islands, a balance lost long ago to a treachery form within the Sovern Regents themselves.

"And the news are more dire then just sightings of them." Panjyamon continued as he turned to face Skullmeramon. "Earlier today, they defeated Musyamon, your former servant and assistant."

Skullmeramon's reaction to the news was less then pleasant as his blue fiery hairstyle took on a more fiery appearance, almost whipping around like a blazing fire as his anger erupted forth. "Musyamon, that traitor, I wanted the pleasure of deleting him myself."

Ending his sentence with one fist hammered into the railing, Skullmeramon stood up from his seat and stared down into the arena below. "Panjyamon, whoever it is that fights today, I want them to face the fire champion, Allomon." Tilting his head around, he stared harshly at the lion man like digimon. "If not, I'll be deleting all of them myself when they show up."

Eyes a bit wide, Ranamon bit her lip as she turned her head to stare down into the pit below, her mind still going over the fact that a powerful warrior could have been defeated. He may have been a traitor yes, but he was also a champion, and one of the best ones to have worked directly below a Sovern Regent.

It made her nervous just to think about it, for if she was ever to meet them in battle, she was as good as dead, no way could she ever hope to stand up to them, let alone her mistress anger when she learned of the presence of digi destined children near her domain.

She would most likely be deleted on the spot, or get sentence to a lifetime in the temple dungeon, along with the other digimons accused of being viral infected, the ones the mistress hated and had declared to be deleted at once if encountered.

Breaking out of her thoughts, Ranamon tilted her head as she noticed Panjyamon and Skullmeramon talking, on the edge of whispering over at the railing, the only words she had managed to pick up so far has been the Ghost Kingdom, and a the temple of fire.

Clenching his fists tightly around the railing, Skullmeramon bit back an angry reply and focused on keeping his emotions in check and concentrate on the matter at hand. "My only remaining servant has reported back to me that the Ghost Kingdom controls all of the Island of Fire, and their new base lies in the Temple of Fire."

Panjyamon growled a bit as he thought about it, a deep anger forming as he considered this problem, with the resent arrival of the digi destined, clearly things were changing around them, but would it be to their advantage, or would it all end up in chaos like it had when Mystimon had tried to become the sole sovern regret around.

Bowing his head and sighing, Panjyamon breath turned into a hiss as he saw the door leading into the pit open, Apemon marching right out into the sand filled battle ground with the four humans right behind him. "Skullmeramon, Ranamon, the humans are here, let's us talk more after they have been disposed off."

Taking up position in the front of the terrace, Panjyamon smirked as he saw the blond haired boy, and the messy haired boy glare up at him, clearly they were still upset about their last encounter with him. "Greetings digi destined, and welcome to the Arena." Waving a hand in an inviting arc, Panjyamon gave a grim smirk at them as he saw them tense up. "Now, I believe you will all provide us with a fitting show of entertainment, sadly we didn't have time to invite any other to watch this, but I believe you won't find that insulting"

Ignoring the rude comment getting thrown at him by the messy haired boy, Panjyamon held up a hand to silence him. "And without further delay, let the battle begin." Tossing something through the air, Panjyamon smirked as he saw four digivices glint in the day light, before impacting the sand below. "Release their digimons into the arena, and bring out the fire champion Allomon."

"And may it be a grand battle." Came a lower muttered sentence as Panjyamon sat down in his seat, the doors on both sides of the pit opening, one releasing fours digimons into the arena, and the other one a very angry sounding dinosaur like digimon that roared loudly and focused on the digi destined and four digimons the instant it entered the pit. "Begin!"

* * *

In the pit, Tai, Jun, Noriko and Michael stared as each of the digivice flew through the air, each one suddenly giving a loud burst of light before racing towards them as fast as they could.

Holding out one hand to block his face from it, Tai blinked as he felt the device impact his open hand with about as much force as a pillow would have. Opening his eyes, he stared in surprise as the device rested inside a clenched up fist without any signs of damage.

Then he was snapped out of his thoughts as a single command rang out through the air. "Begin!" the voice clearly belonging Panjyamon who could be seen up on the terrace in his comfy chair.

"Tai!"

"Michael!"

"Noriko!"

Turning around, Tai smiled as he saw Tailmon run towards him, along with Betamon and Kunemon who each headed towards their own partner, but what surprised him was the digimon that seemed to melt out of the shadows themselves, her head held up in proud defiance of the place they were in.

Next to him, Jun answered his question without even having to hear it as she had already guessed it from the look on his face alone. "Tai, meet my partner, Renamon."

Turning her head to stare at him, the humanoid fox like digimon simply nodded at him as she flexed her three fingered hands in a testing manner. "Nice to meet you." Then she focused on the messy haired girl before her. "Jun, you must be careful out there, we have only just met, and I do not wish to see you get hurt so soon after finally meeting you."

Narrowing her eyes a bit, junk turned slightly to the side as she gave a small huffing sound. "Yes mom, I'll be careful out there." Mentally wondering why she had to get stuck with a digimon that worried more about her then her own mom normally would.

Snickering slightly at Jun's clear discomfort, Tai got back to business rather quickly as a loud roar signaled hat their opponent were going to attack them, and soon. "Great." Focusing on the digimon before them, Tai lifted up his digivice and stared down at Tailmon. "You up to armor digivolving again?"

Groaning slightly at the question, Tailmon shook his head while he lowered his tail a bit. "Sorry, but Panjyamon knocked me out for a good deal, I won't be able to do any digivolving until I regain some more strength." Turning his head as he spoke, the feline digimon focused on the towering dinosaur digimon stomping towards them. "It's up to the others now."

Getting an even more pt off expression on her face, Jun stared up at the evil digimon as it seemed ot focus it attention only on her. "Great, well Renamon, Attack him, knock him out, or just do something," Mumbling out the words as she backed off, Jun gulped as that large mouth open to show off a large row of sharp teeth on each jaw. "Anything would do at this point."

Smirking despite the danger to her partner, Renamon shot forward as silently as a shadow. "Well Jun, if you call me your mum, I should do my best to keep my pup safe form danger." Jumping up into the air, the fox girl like digimon crossed her arms and focused on the suddenly rising head of the dinosaur like digimon. "Diamond shower!"

* * *

Across the town, Gorillamon looked up as a familiar smell finally reached him, the smell of the brat himself that had escaped him so often, and it was coming from.

Turning to face the direction of it, the large gorilla like digimon smirked as he began to make his way in the direction that the smell came from. It was time to finally end the hunt, and to claim his trophy in the form of the boy's digivice and the rewards from Karatenmon for a job well done when he displayed the trophy to him.

* * *

Swatting the diamonds away from his body with an irritated growl, the dinosaur like digimon rushed forward as soon as the path was clear, snapping his jaws shut in the space that Renamon had been in just a second before.

Landing on her feet, Renamon growled as she crossed her arms, her eyes slightly narrowed as she focused more power into her attack. "I should have known that Allomon wouldn't go down that easy, still, even for me who is the champion of this pit, it is an insult." Letting lose with even more diamond shards, she growled, as its only effect was to make the big digimon even madder.

Off to the side, Noriko closed her eyes and tried to avoid watching the fight, part of her scared at the thought of having to be part of something like that, while another, happier part of her mind wanted to live up to the promise that she had made to her friend.

On her shoulder, Kunemon could sense the trouble going through her partners body, her own mind struggling to figure out how they had even gotten mixed up in this, this wasn't a place that a young girl like Noriko or any other child for that matter should be. "Noriko, are you, still confused." Came the mumble comment as the worm like digimon watched the fight before them. "Noriko? I know how you don't want to, I also know that even I don't want to, but if we're all part of a team, we should fight together with them."

Shuddering as a brief flash of another place and time passed before her eyes, Noriko did her best to block out the sound of two battles at the same time, and finding that it wasn't as easy as it should have been. "No, I don't want to have anyone suffer again, not even him, not like me."

"We'll end up suffering if we don't fight." Michael added in as he moved up to them, one eyes on the fight and the other one watching her from the corner of it. "Trust me, you can't avoid getting into a conflict forever."

Sighing slightly at the last word, Michael gave her a small smile. "The only thing you can decide, is is you want to face the problem, or keeping running away from it."

Watching as Allomon continued to roar and charge Renamon, Jun fumbled a bit with her digivice, a bit unsure of how to handle being a digi destined. Despite her brave front when she had introduced her partner, it had only been an hour or two since they had met.

Barely enough time to get to know one another, even if Renamon had declared that she knew all there was to know about her, and that she was sure she could live up to the expectations of destiny. "Tai, How do you do use this thing anyway, Renamon's not doing any damage at all; how do you make your digimon digivolve?"

Shooting a part surprised, part curious look, Tai shook his head a bit and gave his best shrug while holding Tailmon in his arms. "Beats me, all I gotten Tailmon to do so far is Armor digivolve." The rest a bit heated as he looked over at Michael who simply stared back at him. "Just, try something."

Simply staring at him, Jun gave a deep sigh and shook her head in a very negative way. "You know Yagami, for a team leader, you stink at giving support!" Turning back to the fight, Jun Clenched her hand around the digivice and stared harder at the fight, winching as Allomon's tail hammered into the wall making up the pit, sending a shower of small bricks falling down.

Huffing a bit at her comment, Tai shook his head and looked down at Tail before him. "Hey buddy, I know you're hurt, but we could really use your help right now." Eyes and head moving up, Tai glared at the sight of the two fake soverns and that small digimon looking down at them. "It's our only chance to escape right now, so please."

Smirking slightly, Tailmon pushed himself up, and gave a weak moan before dropping down again. "Sorry Tai, but I still need more time to recover." Slumping down, Tailmon hissed as he cast a glare up the two soverns above them, tails twitching to show just how angry he was "But if I could, I'd show them."

Off to the side of it all, Noriko lowered her gaze and sighed deeply. "Michael, I thank you, but still, I won't let anyone get hurt by this, I won't." Lifting up her digivice, she closed her eyes and focused on it. "Kunemon, try and get Allomon to stop fighting us, without hurting him."

On her shoulder, Kunemon nodded before jumping off, a bright light covering him as he landed on the ground. "Kunemon digivolve too." Exploding into a much larger form, the small insect became a much larger digimon, massive pinchers forming on his head as fours arms and two legs shot out of his body, massive insect wings beating the air harshly. "Kuwagamon!"

In his seat, Panjaymon allowed a grin to fill his face. "About time they started to take it seriously, I am very disappointed in the digimons belonging to the two boys, they seemed to at least pose a small challenge when I first saw them." Tapping a furry finger on his seat, he sighed as he held the other hand up to support his head. "Hopefully this new digimon will make the fight less boring."

Turning away form the small digimon who had been attacking him, Allomon roared out as he spotted the much larger, and easier to hit Kuwagamon move towards him. The insects massive size making a nice target for him as he felt fire form in his mouth. "Dino Burst!"

Spinning around to shield the humans and digimon behind him, Kuwagamon grunted in pain as fire hit his back, his wings feeling they were drying up from the heat of the attack alone. "Noriko, I don't know how much, I can keep this up."

Getting a small rest, Renamon head snapped around as she Saw Jun and Tai stumble back to avoid some of the fire getting deflected by Kuwagamon's back. "You!" Clenching up her hand, she shot forward as fast as she could, Allomon turning to face her as she jumped off the ground. "Don't you even dare think about harming Jun!"

Reeling back as Renamon's sentence was finished with a punch to his face, Allomon shook his head and tried to snap his jaws together around the fox digimon, missing as he began to flip away from him again, a glittering in the air signaling another Diamond Storm attack headed right towards him.

Acting as fast as he could, Allomon rushed forward, the most useful attack he had for a situation like this already powering up. "Dynamite Head!" Head butting the diamond shards out of the way, he hammered right into Renamon and sent her flying backwards through the air, firing off another attack as soon as he could. "Dino Burst!"

Letting out a loud scream, Renamon smacked into the pit walls with a loud thud, her body fur blanked in some parts as smoke rose up from the fire attack that had barely missed her doing her short flight. "I, I won't let you, I won't you hurt her." Staggering up, Renamon began to pull together another diamond storm attack.

Nearly dropping her digivice at the sight of her badly damaged partner, Jun began to rush forward without thinking about it, a deep desire to help and protect her partner flooding her mind as she took the second and third step forward. "Renamon!"

Snapping his head around at the sudden yell, Allomon stared in anger at the human girl moving towards the digimon that had been annoying him for so long. "Dynamite Head!" His head lowering as he began to rush forward.

Screaming in fear and anger as she saw the large digimon head towards her partner, Renamon began to move as well, her body protesting it as she could feel every burn clearly. But that wouldn't stop her, she'd protect her partner no matter what it took, that much she knew she was willing to, even if it meant getting deleted in the process.

Shielding herself with her arms as she noticed the digimon rushing towards her, Jun blinked her eyes as she noticed the digivice in her hand give off a bright white glow, the same glow forming around Renamon rushing towards her.

"Renamon digivolve too..." Her body twisting as it exploded with light, Renamon giggled as it quickly began to reform into a four legged one, nine tails forming where she had only had one before, along with a colorful ribbon like object around her neck colored red and white. "Kyuubimon"

Turning his full attention to the new digimon, Allomon began to gather up fire for another attack, this one meant to finally remove that fox digimon once and for all from the arena. "Dino!"

Not wanting to become a burnt digimon, Kyuubimon rushed forward as fast as she could, her nine tails spreading out behind her as each tip of them began to light up with a small fireball. "Fox!"

"Taichi Yagami!"

Freezing in the middle of their attacks, the two digimons as well as everyone else turned to the direction that the yell had come from, each of them staring in utter confusion at the lone person staring down at them.

He clearly didn't look like a normal human, that much they could all agree on as he was currently dressed in a tight spandex outfit colored gold, white and dark blue, a V shaped cape hanging from his shoulders and a tacky pair of massive sunglasses to complete the outfit along with the very spiky dark blue almost purple hair do.

Smirking darkly as he allowed a whip to unroll, the human boy looked down in the arena as several Devidramons and Airdramons hovered up behind him to offer support if he should need it. "I hope I didn't interrupt something interesting, but my curiosity just had to satisfied Yagami, which is way I am here."

Moving on before Tai even got a chance to ask, reply or make a comment, the boy gave a quick nod of his head as he saw a confused question about to be aimed at him. "Well, it seems I forgot my manners for a bit, very well, I am the Digimon Emperor, and I want to talk with you Yagami, firstly about the control towers you broke and then why you're so annoying familiar to me, and after that, I will destroy you to end your interference with my plans for this world."

"Get in the back of the line kid, I got first dips on taking him out." Eyes flashing in annoyance over the interruption, the young boy found himself glaring as yet another party crasher landed on the opposite sides of the arena, his eyes focused on the brown haired boy in the pit rather then the emperor.

Snapping out a hand to point at the digimon across from him, the digimon emperor snarled as he felt some of his control return to him. "And who are you to order me around, don't you know that this world is mine!"

Looking up to focus on the boy across from him, the digimon snorted a bit at the boosting he had just heard. "Well boy, I am Gorillamon!" Those words earning a small gasp from Michael down in the pit as he got a good look at the digimon as well as heard him introduce himself. "And this world, will belong to Karatenmon and the great Master!"

Standing up at that rant, Panjymon's fist crushed part of the railing as he stared at each of the intruders, his eyes glowing with the sheer power running through his body. "I was right all along, the danger to us is the return of Mystimon, an event that these children are said to be the ones to herald, we must destroy them before they release that monster from the Dark Area!"

Down in the arena, Jun blew a lose strand of hair out of her eyes as she cast a sarcastic glare over at Taichi who were staring rather confused up into the sky. "Okay Yagami, anyone else you've managed to piss off that isn't here yet?" Seeing him turn his head to look at her, she planted both her fists on her hips. "Well, is there?"

"Well." Tai stared as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Unless I managed to tick off anyone else lately, that should be all of them."

Narrowing her eyes in a mixture of disgust and anger, Jun turned back to face the new arrivals before them. With her eyes as nothing more then slits, she clenched up both her hands and got ready for anything else that might happen, while mentally cursing Tai and his idiot behavior that kept getting into more and more trouble with each passing moment.

Focusing on them, Michael moved a bit closer along with Noriko just in case things got really ugly. "So, anyone got a fantastic plan to get us out of this mess with?"

Deep silence greeted him after that question; a silence that had him whispered a small prayer to whatever deity might be willing to listen in on them, preferably one that could be bothered to save them.

And an answer he got, thought not one he would have liked to get as the whole Arena began to shake, several crack ripping up through the brick and rock parts of the place, a deep rumble coming from below the ground.

Stumbling back, Jun grabbed onto the first thing she came near, not really paying attention to what it was, but rather looking around to see what was going on. "Yagami, what's happing?"

Struggling to get her to release his arm and allow blood to flow through it again, Tai cast a frantic scan around the place in a hurry. "How should I know? It's not like I'm the one who planned something like this." Finally getting his arm free, Tai grinned as he stumbled back; only to give a loud scream as the ground vanished beneath him.

The same thing happing to the others in the arena, as a large hole formed, it's edges stopping right before the pit walls.

Staring down in the hole, Ranamon scratched her head and cast a look over at the fake soverns with a puzzled expression on her face. "So, what now?" Moving back several steps as everyone gave her their attention, she quickly began to wave her arms up and down in desperation. "It wasn't me! Honest!"

Simply snorting in reply, Skullmeramon turned back to face the ones who had interrupted the battle, and froze as he found none of them, Gorillamon was gone, and so was that human boy, and to add insult to his injury, Allomon had vanished from the pit as well.

Next to him, Panjyamon just stared into the sky, wondering just what this new development would mean. The digimon Emperor had made an appearance before them, and Gorillamon's presence had made it absolutely clear that Karatenmon was involved in the matter as well.

Turning sharply around, Panjyamon walked rapidly towards the doors leading into the sovern's castle. "Skullmeramon, I leave File City and the Digi Destined matter up to you." Pulling out his sword and watching his reflection on its surface, the lion man like digimon growled in his throat as he saw the traces of shock still clear on his face, but it would have to wait until later. "If you need my help, I will be at the center of everything."

Gasping at the comment from Panjyamon, Ranamon and Skullmeramon glanced at one another, both of them clearly remembering what the center of everything meant to the Server Islands, and the digimons. "Huanlongmon's temple." None of them really clear which one of them had whispered it out.

* * *

Brushing some dirt off his head, Tai grunted as he sat up, the faint light around him barely giving him enough to see anything with. "Tailmon, Michael, Noriko, Motomiya?" Standing up, a hiss escaped him as he felt the rock scrape against his shoulder harshly. "Damn, where are we anyway? And just how far did we fall down anyway?"

The last had been spoken as Tai leaned his head back and stared up to the hole where the light was coming from, or rather what he would have thought it would have come from. Instead he was now staring right into a finely cut ceiling from an old tunnel.

A quick look around his person revealed that he had only scraped himself on a small brick sticking out of the wall, and that he wasn't in some deep pit, but standing in a tunnel several years old by the looks of it. "Great, just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder, this happens."

Rubbing his head, Tai sighed and decided to at least try and find the others, his first step stopping as soon as he saw someone or rather something come out through the tunnel wall itself. It's body large, white and ragged as twin yellow eyes move to peer at him from inside two cut openings in the clothing completely covering the digimon.

Stumbling back as the light in the tunnel increased from the lamp suddenly popping into the digimons hand, Tai screamed as he finally figured out what kind of digimons this was. "A ghost!"

Not even responding to it, the digimon gave a soft chuckle a few seconds later as Tai stopped screaming, just floating back a bit and making an inviting motion with his hand. "And hello to you too." With a voice sounding much like Tai expected a ghosts to be like, the digimon hovered forward slowly again as he spoke. "If you will follow me, I shall reunite you with your friends, and let Lord Bakemon explain why we rescued you and your friends from the arena."

Turning around, the digimon frowned as another white blur rushed out of the tunnel, this one stopping right before Tai in a defensive stance. "Your digimon partner will also be welcome of course." He added in as he pointed a finger at Tailmon whose tail stood straight up in anger.

Rubbing his head as the digimon began to move forward again, Tai shot a look down at Tailmon before him. "You feeling about as lost as I am pal?"

"I think I'm more confused then you, nut no matter Tai, don't trust this digimon you hear. Bakemons are known to lie in order to trick digimons into traps." His eyes narrowed as he spoke, Tailmon nodded in return as he began to move forward cautiously, never giving up his tense and battle ready movements for even a second. "And no matter how much I hate this, we have no choice but to follow him, since the other way leads back to the arena."

* * *

"Events are out of control." Came the cold, almost uncaring voice form the man as he cast a troubled look down into the city before him, noting that the column of smoke was rising up a good deal into the sky. "I fear that I have been moving to fast in recruiting them."

Behind him, Sorcerimon shook his head a bit as he too watched the smoke rise into the sky as well. "You have done your best, and as you said yourself, event are already moving towards the final event." Lifting up his staff, the wizard type digimon smiled behind his cape as he walked up to stand next to the human. "And one way or another, this darkness will try to escape its imprisonment."

Lowering his head in sadness, the human turned around and ran a hand through his mop of messy dark brown hair. "Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing." Lifting up the other hand, he stared down at the one thing he always carried with him, despite the dark memories it held. "Deserting them after the battle, beating myself up with my own despair, it's no wonder I never saw it coming."

Listing silently, Sorcerimon reached out a hand and planted it on the humans shoulder to offer up some comfort. "You did what was right at the time, no one could have foreseen the event that would one day happen." Closing his eyes, the wizard type digimon clenched the hand on the humans arm a bit tighter. "The future was, and is always unpredictable, and all one can really do, is hope that tomorrow will be better, despite the actions of yesterday."

Lifting his head, the human gave a weak smile as he held up the object in his hand, watching as sun light played across it soft surface and small screen. "You're right, but none the less I still feel that I should have tried harder, and not just have given up on him."

Turning his head to face the smoke cloud again, Sorcerimon nodded as he felt the tenseness of the human through the sleeve of his trench coat. "The seal is still in place, and no matter what, you must trust in them. After all, you said that you trusted him to carry out this task, and the three helping him, they were chosen by his greatness, Huanglongmon."

Lowering the digivice, the human gave a semi sad smile as he thought about the wizard type digimons last sentence. "The true sovern and guardian of the center, to mistrust his word, is something that shouldn't be done." Turning around, the human smiled a bit more honestly as he re-pocket the digivice. "Sorcerimon, I want you to shadow Tai and his group, report everything to me, I shall deal with the digi destined on the continent of Server."

Nodding as he accepted the order, Sorcerimon lifted up his staff and willed his power to lift him up into the air, a small feeling of hesitation coming over him as he turned around in the air to regard the human below him. "And what of Witchmon?"

Crossing his arms, the human man's smile turned into a smirk as he cast a good hard look out over the non damaged part of File City. "She will be assisting me, I fear that some of them will not be willing to listen to reason, no matter how honest it can be."

"If I may." Sorcerimon once more started talking as he cast a concerned look down at him. "I have heard some nasty rumors lately, that the Digimon Emperor will be coming here to search for Taichi Yagami."

The human man tensed as he lost a bit of his good cheer. "I see, I don't know what the outcome will be if they were to meet, but I fear it will either tip the scale towards the side of light, or darkness." Lifting up a hand, the human man stared at it as he silently began to walk away again. "Now, carry out my order, and remember, you must only help them if there is no other choice, they must learn to handle such problems themselves, before they achieve the great power they are meant to control."

TBC: All together at last part II

An: Another chapter done, go me. Hope everyone likes it so far, despite the chapters getting a bit shorter then the first one was.

On another note, this chapter was very hard to write, a minor writers block, and a feeling that it was rushed to much in so many places has left me feeling less then happy with it. Thankfully the next few chapters should be easy as I will move onto handling the Digimon Emperor and his connectioon to Tai, and reveal just what the Ghost Kingdom wants with our little band of merry heroes.


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